HENRY  G.  APPENZELLER 


A  MODERN 

PIONEER  IN 

TCOREA 


WILLIAM  ELLIOT 
GRIFFIS 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 


presented  to  the 
UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
SAN  DIEGO 

by 

MRS...R.  H.     BAKER 


3  1822025078411 


A  MODERN  PIONEER  IN  KOREA 


By  WILLIAM  ELLIOT  GRIFFIS,  D.D..L.H.D. 


A    Modern     Pioneer    in    Korea 

The  life  story  of  Henry  G.  Appenzeller.  Illus- 
trated, I2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.25. 

This  life  is  another  stirring  chapter  in  the  record  of 
modern  missionary  heroism.  Dr.  Griffis  has  woven  a  most 
picturesque  and  interesting  background  of  Korean  land- 
scape, life  and  history.  It  is  a  book  that  will  win  interest 
in  missionary  effort  and  inspire  the  younger  generation 
with  a  desire  to  emulate  Appenzeller' s  example. 

A  Maker  of  the  New  Orient 

Samuel  Robbins  Brown,  pioneer  educator  in 
China,  America  and  Japan.  The  story  of  his 
life  and  work.  Illustrated,  cloth,  net  $1.25. 

"Dr.  Griffis  has  rendered  a  valuable  service  in  telling 
the  story  of  so  eminent  and  faithful  a  life,  and  doing  it  with 
so  fine  an  appreciation  in  a  style  graphic  and  interesting." 
—  Christian  Intelligencer. 


Verbeck    of  Japan  : 

A  CITIZEN   OF  NO   COUNTRY 

A  life  story  of  Foundation  Work  inaugurated 
by  Guido  Fridolin  Verbeck.  Illustrated.  i2mo, 
cloth,  $1.50. 

"This  biography  shows  a  citizen  of  the  world,  a  man  of 
patrician  birth  and  scholarly  culture,  preaching  the  princi- 
ples of  righteousness  in  six  languages;  writing  in  as  many 
more,  and  directing  the  affairs  of  the  Sunrise  Kingdom 
in  the  council  chamber  of  the  poor,  and  the  confidant  of 
the  Mikado." — The  Interior. 


HENRY   GF.RHART    APPENZELLEK,    1901. 


A  MODERN   PIONEER 
IN  KOREA 

THE  LIFE  STORY  OF 
HENRY  G.  APPENZELLER 


BY 


WILLIAM    ELLIOT   GRIFFIS,    D.D.,    L.H.D. 

A  u  thor  of ' '  Verbeck  of  Japan ,"   "  Korea  the  Hermit  Nation . ' ' 


"Somewhere  else  that  atom's  force 
Moves  the  light-poised  universe." 


NEW  YORK  CHICAGO          TORONTO 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 

LONDON     AND     EDINBURGH 


Copyright,  1912,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  123  North  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:  100  Princes  Street 


TO  THE 
LOYAL  DAUGHTER 

HUce  IRebecca 

FIRST  BORN  OF  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN  CHILDREN 

IN  THE 
LAND  OF  MORNING  SPLENDOUR 


Preface 


APPENZELLER  of  Korea  built  himself  as  a 
living  stone  into  Christian  Cho-sen.  The 
coming  of  a  live,  typical,  American  Chris- 
tian in  1885,  into  the  mysterious  secrecy  of  an 
inhospitable  hermit  kingdom,  the  abode  of  cruelty, 
oppression,  mental  darkness,  ignorance  and  disease, 
was  like  an  invincible  sunbeam.  Bold  as  a  lion, 
tender  as  a  woman,  aflame  with  zeal  for  the  Master, 
yet  able  to  work  and  live  with  all  sorts  and  condi- 
tions of  men,  he  won  steady  success.  As  traveller, 
explorer,  teacher,  organiser,  evangelist  and  Bible 
translator,  his  labors  were  manifold,  while  his 
temper  was  ever  sweet.  His  seventeen  years  of 
service  were  crowned  with  success.  His  greatness 
in  the  hour  of  death  tallied  with  the  unselfish 
victories  of  his  life.  He  died  while  saving  others. 

It  is  no  pious  panegyric  that  his  friend  and 
correspondent,  who  knew  him  from  the  time  of  his 
arrival  in  Korea,  has  tried  to  write;  but,  against 
a  background  of  reality,  to  show  what  Appenzeller 
and  his  fellow  workers  under  God  achieved.  Appen- 
zeller found  Korea  in  pagan  barbarism.  He  left 
the  Land  of  Morning  Calm  worthy  of  its  name, 
full  of  hope,  promise  and  attainment.  He  lived 

7 


8  Preface 

and  toiled  for  the  Christian  Cho-sen  of  to-day. 
Hence  the  larger  part  of  this  book  is  devoted  to 
the  country  and  to  the  people  whom  he  loved  and 
for  whom  he  gladly  died. 

A  man  of  system  and  scrupulous  regard  for  both 
exact  facts  and  general  truth,  this  servant  of  Christ 
of  high  ideals  and  master  of  details  kept,  from  his 
youth  up,  journals,  note  and  common-place  books, 
copies  of  important  documents  and  letters;  and  to 
these  I  have  had  unstinted  access  from  the  widow 
and  daughter  of  this  missionary  pioneer.  Scores 
of  correspondents  also  have  enabled  me  to  make 
my  story  trustworthy  and  authentic,  as  well  as 
vivid  and  interesting.  To  these  and  to  the  "  help 
meet  "  and  loyal  daughter,  do  I  make  my  grateful 
recognition. 

May  John  Milton's  hope  be  fulfilled  in  this  book, 
in  that  "life  unto  life"  shall,  in  this  case,  mean 
that  the  story  of  Appenzeller,  who  died  too  soon, 
shall  stimulate  others  to  still  nobler  consecration 
and  achievements.  And  this, 

"  Through  the  dear  might 
Of  Him  who  walked  the  wave." 

W.  E.  G. 
ITHACA,  N.  Y, 


Contents 

MM 

Introductory 13 

I.  God's  Korea — Morning  Splendour. ...     18 
II.  Man's  Korea — Realities  of  Life 30 

III.  The  Hermit's  Doors  Forced  Open. ...      42 

IV.  The  Methodists  and  the  Appenzellers  .     52 
V.  A  Christian  Soldier's  Training 61 

VI.  Korea  as  a  Topic — Lure  or  Chill?. ...     75 

VII.  The  Great  Decision 85 

VIII.  Voyages  and  First  Impressions 92 

IX.  Inside  a  Korean  House 104 

X.  New  Seed  in  Old  Soil 115 

XI.  The  Leadership  of  a  Little  Child 125 

XII.  On  Horseback — Old  Korean  Capitals.    133 

XIII.  In  the  North— Ping  Yang,  the  Boat 

City 144 

XIV.  Housekeeping — Fun,  Fact  and  Fancy.  153 
XV.  Prospecting  for  Gospel  Treasure 164 

XVI.  The  Monopoly  of  Letters 172 

XVII.  Mastering  the  Language 182 

XVIII.  In  Time  of  Pestilence 193 

XIX.  School  and  Church 201 

XX.  On  First  Furlough — Home 213 

XXI.  A  Pioneer  of  Civilisation 224 

XXII.  The  World  of  the  Imaginary 236 

XXIII.  Yoke  Fellows  in  the  Gospel 244 

XXIV.  Second  Visit  Home 253 

XXV.  "He  Saved  Others" 267 

XXVI.  The  Whitening  Harvest 281 

XXVII.  The  Wind  of  the  Spirit 286 

9 


Illustrations 


TO  FACE  PAGE 

Henry  Gerhart  Appenzeller,  1901 Frontispiece 

Miryek,  or  Colossal  Image 33 

Putting  the  Gloss  on  Father's  Coat 39 

Memorial  to  Queen  Min 53 

Bride  going  to  Her  Husband's  Home 83 

Making  the  Roof  Thatch 83 

Korean  Children  and  Nurses 109 

Girls  are  Girls  All  Over  the  World 131 

Four  Generations  of  Christians 13 1 

Northern  Roof  Hat  going  to  Church 147 

Methodist  Mission  Station,  Kongju 169 

Printing  Block.    Enmun  Alphabet  Sheet 189 

Appenzeller  and  His  Students,  1887 207 

The  First  Christian  (M.  E.)  Church  Edifice.. .  211 

Art  Work  of  Old  Korea 221 

New  Year's  Offering  to  the  Spirits 243 

Shop  in  Northern  Korea.    Age  and  Youth  ...  249 

A  Government  School,  1910 267 


Introductory 


1  BEGAN  to  pray  for  Korea  on  the  morning  of 
March  2,  1871.  As  an  educational  pioneer 
in  Japan — the  first  to  live  as  a  guest  in  the 
far  interior — I  had  spent  the  night  previous  with 
my  escort  of  fifteen  two-sworded  knights  at  Tsuruga, 
whence  one  looks  across  the  sea  to  Korea.  As 
we  emerged  into  the  road  leading  to  Fukui,  our 
party  stopped  before  the  great  Shinto  temple, 
at  which  the  Empress  Jingu,  who  lives  in  Japanese 
tradition,  as  "the  conqueror  of  Korea"  and  her 
son,  the  war-god  Hachiman,  were  worshipped. 
Three  of  my  guardsmen  stopped,  bowed  reverently, 
clapped  their  hands  together  and  worshipped. 
"Idolatry"  or  not,  I  was  touched  by  this  simple 
act  of  piety,  as  they  understood  it,  and  looking 
westward  over  the  water  towards  Korea,  my  heart 
went  out  to  the  one  living  and  true  God,  in  the 
hope  that  this  land  lying  to  the  westward,  might 
soon  be  blessed  with  the  gospel.  Studying  the 
Land  of  Morning  Splendour  through  Japanese  and 
European  sources  of  information,  I  began  on  my 
arrival  home  in  America,  in  1874,  besides  making 
it  a  subject  of  daily  prayer,  to  write  and  lecture 
on  Korea,  the  Hermit  Nation,  and  at  Washington 

18 


14         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

to  urge  Congressional  committees  to  secure  by 
treaty  the  peaceful  opening  of  the  country.  In 
1881,  1882,  and  1885,  books  treating  of  Korea  were 
published.  Yet  in  those  days  it  was,  as  a  lady 
said  to  me,  like  talking  about  a  "strange  seashell," 
picked  up  from  an  unknown  strand  in  the  far 
Orient. 

My  neighbour  and  friend  in  Boston,  Phillips 
Brooks,  used  to  say  that  foreign  missions  were 
"the  last  of  the  heroisms"  and  so  he  preached. 
My  friend  and  correspondent  Appenzeller  illus- 
trated in  his  life  and  final  hour  Bishop  Brooks' 
thesis.  I  have  endeavoured  to  tell  the  story  of 
his  work  among  the  people  whom  he  loved.  It 
is  not  panegyric,  but  reality  that  I  offer.  Appen- 
zeller was  a  hero,  but  he  hated  cant  and  sham. 
Hence  I  have  shown  the  country  and  the  people, 
as  well  as  the  worker.  I  have  left  out  the  word 
"heathen,"  because  this  term  is  neither  in  the 
Hebrew,  nor  the  Greek  of  the  original  scriptures, 
nor,  strictly  speaking,  in  the  Revised  Version. 
In  the  languages  of  Europe — itself  once  a  mission 
field,  the  word  was  and  is  a  term  of  contempt,  and 
such  a  feeling  toward  the  Koreans  was  the  last 
in  the  breast  of  this  man,  their  friend  and  lover. 
Even  when  in  ripest  knowledge  of  the  natives — 
and  he  was,  both  as  a  scholar  and  a  preacher, 
ever  in  living  contact  with  the  people — Appenzeller, 
while  he  hated  what  marred  and  ruined  both  their 
bodies  and  souls,  was  ever  affectionate  to  them  as 
human  beings.  He  felt  about  the  Koreans  as  he 
did  about  his  own  countrymen.  "  We  should  be 


Introductory  15 

ashamed  of  what  some  Americans  do,  but  never 
ashamed  of  being  Americans"  was  a  famous  say- 
ing of  his.  He  loved  much  and  honoured  many 
things  in  their  character  and  civilisation,  while 
despising  and  abhorring,  with  a  hatred  born  of 
his  love  of  holiness,  whatever  degraded  them  or 
his  own  countrymen — both  common  sinners  before 
God,  and  in  need  of  the  same  grace.  His  attitude 
was  never  that  of  the  Pharisee,  but  as  one  who, 
knowing  and  appreciating  the  undeniable  graces 
and  virtues  of  the  Korean,  ever  felt  like  taking 
him  by  the  hand  and  saying  "Come  brother,  let 
us  both  together  strive  to  realise  in  our  lives  our 
ideals  of  what  a  Christian  ought  to  be." 

I  have  omitted  also  both  the  pious  stock  phrases 
and  the  vulgar  slang  about  the  "Oriental"  and  the 
"Asiatic" — as  if  human  nature  was  one  whit 
different  there  or  here!  To  the  eye  of  the  scholar 
and  the  Christian,  who  knows  the  history  and 
evolution  from  semi-brutality  of  our  own  savage 
ancestors,  there  is  no  Orient  and  no  Occident, 
except  as  these  phrases  are  as  convenient  and  about 
as  accurate  as  our  commonplaces,  "the  sun  rises" 
or  "the  dew  falls."  The  student  of  history,  with 
the  eyes  of  science  and  imagination,  sees  in  the 
colonial  America  of  a  hundred,  or  the  Europe  of 
five  hundred  years  ago,  pretty  much  everything 
that  is,  or  only  lately  was,  visible  in  China,  Korea, 
and  Japan.  Human  nature  and  the  race  are  one. 

One  will  quickly  find  also  that  I  do  not  accept 
the  alleged  Korean  history  which  is  only  folk  lore, 
or  appraised  at  its  traditional  and  local  value  the 


16         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

native  chronology,  which,  like  that  of  Japan  and 
China,  is  founded  on  national  vanity  and  mythical 
zoology.  I  also  avoid,  as  far  as  possible,  any 
emphasis  on  the  wonderful  and  sensational,  as 
peculiar  to  the  peninsular  country  or  man;  for, 
having  lived  in  the  interior  of  feudal  Japan,  I  find 
little  or  nothing  in  Christless  Korea  different  from 
that  in  Christless  Japan.  In  all  essential  particulars, 
of  custom,  social  life,  indirection  of  misgovernment, 
oppression  of  the  people,  hoary  superstitions  and 
things  odd  and  strange,  the  fibre  of  civilisation 
in  the  peninsula  was  identical,  or  nearly  so,  with 
that  in  the  island.  Unreformed  countries  in  Asia, 
before  the  advent  of  true  Christianity,  all  bore  a 
common  likeness.  Their  ancient  history  ends  and 
their  modern  story  begins  when  the  religion  of 
Jesus  sways  the  hearts  of  men.  Yet  before  the 
temple  of  truth  can  rise,  Christianity  saps  and 
rends  hoary  structures,  causing  at  first  much  ruin, 
as  it  reduces  to  rubbish  the  long  buttressed  false- 
hoods of  ages,  on  which  the  moss  of  artistic  charm 
has  gathered  and  over  which  the  vines  of  sentiment 
have  luxuriantly  grown. 

Startling  changes  have  taken  place  within  forty 
years,  since  prayer  first  went  up  for  Korea — a  hermit 
nation  becoming  social,  a  Sahara  of  paganism  trans- 
formed into  a  garden  of  Christian  hope.  The 
outflowering  of  Japan,  the  shattering  in  war  of  the 
Chinese  dogma  of  universal  severeignty  and  the 
extension  of  American  power  and  influence  in  the 
Pacific,  were  all  within  the  lifetime  of  our  subject. 
These  events  were  followed  by  the  check  given  to 


Introductory  17 

the  notion,  long  cherished  in  the  Occident,  that  any 
one  race  of  men,  of  whatever  color  or  nation,  or 
of  any  one  form  of  government  was  to  "  dominate 
the  Pacific,"  or  the  world;  the  humbling  of  military 
Russia;  the  logical  absorption  of  Korea,  with  the 
official  proclamation  of  its  most  ancient  name  of 
Cho-sen,  or  Morning  Splendour,  into  the  Japanese 
empire;  and  the  commotion  of  1912,  that  prefaces 
a  new  China.  All  these  call  for  fresh  interpreta- 
tions of  the  old  facts  that  underlie  ancient  social 
systems  and  an  analysis  of  the  new  forces  that  are 
recreating  humanity.  What  is  good  in  Asia,  the 
mother  continent,  must  be  conserved  and  not  lost. 
We  are  not  to  doubt  but  that  with  the  everlasting 
righteousness  which  is  fresh  every  morning,  new 
resultants  of  power  will  be  gained.  "God  fainteth 
not,  neither  is  weary"  and  from  the  rising  of  the  sun 
until  the  going  down  of  the  same,  his  name  shall  be, 
yea  is,  great  among  the  nations."  This  is  the 
way  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  so  He  taught,  who  came 
"not  to  destroy  but  to  fulfil." 

In  the  divine  making  of  all  things  new  on  the  earth 
the  consecrated  lives  of  Christ-filled  men  and  women 
are  the  greatest  forces  for  good,  and  the  story  of 
such  a  man  we  proceed  to  tell. 


I. 

God's  Korea — Morning  Splendour 

MANY  are  the  names  of  the  rocky  ridge, 
which  is  set  between  the  Ever  White 
Mountains  and  the  Yellow  Sea.  Long 
under  the  intellectual  shadow  of  China,  the  Central 
Empire,  Korea  called  herself  The  Little  Outpost 
State.  In  early  ages  there  were  the  three  Han, 
or  states.  The  fading  flower  of  The  Korean 
"Empire,"  proclaimed  in  1897,  was  called  Tai-Han 
or  the  Great  Han,  and  after  a  troubled  life  of  thir- 
teen years,  it  withered  away,  even  before  it  took 
root.  Of  many  fantastic  legends,  attempting  to 
account  for  the  origin  of  the  people,  one  makes  the 
White  Cock  Forest  a  favourite  term  from  medieval 
times.  The  Buddhists  have  given  names  appro- 
priate to  the  land  of  the  former  glories  of  their  church 
and  there  are  various  others  bestowed  by  travellers, 
which  suggest  geography,  the  face  of  the  country, 
the  social  life  of  the  people,  or  describe  the  last, 
but  now  extinct  dynasty. 

We  have  thus  the  Land  of  Gentle  Manners,  the 
Country  of  the  Eight  Circuits,  or  Provinces,  the 
Realm  of  the  Twelve  Thousand  Serrated  Peaks, 
the  Land  of  the  Plum  Blossom,  and  the  Country 
of  Kija,  the  legendary  founder  of  Korean  civilisa- 

18 


God's  Korea — Morning  Splendour     19 

tion.  In  poetry  the  chief  ruler  is  the  Sovereign 
of  Ten-Thousand  Isles,  the  people  being  senti- 
mentally "  Our  Twenty  Millions."  In  census 
mathematics,  there  are  about  two  hundred  islands 
and  twelve  million  souls.  To  not  a  few  visitors, 
Korea  is  the  Land  of  Mosquitoes  and  Malaria; 
to  hunters,  the  Country  of  the  Tigers;  to  the  lovers 
of  the  beautiful,  the  Garden  of  God.  To  a  few, 
who  have  borne  the  cross  of  grief,  it  is  the  sleeping- 
chamber  of  the  Beloved  Dead  and  ante-room  of 
resurrection  glory.  To  the  Christian,  it  is  The 
Land  of  Golden  Opportunity.  In  prosaic  fact, 
Korea,  in  which  great  cities  are  absent,  is  The 
Land  of  Villages. 

Oldest,  grandest,  suggestive  of  all  things  ancient 
and  venerable,  oftenest  in  the  mouths  of  the  natives 
and  wisely  made  official,  in  the  treaty  of  absorption 
by  the  Japanese  Empire  in  1910,  is  Cho-sen,  that 
is,  Morning  Splendour.  Other  values  expressed  in 
English  for  the  two  Chinese  characters,  may  be 
Dayspring,  Radiance  of  the  Dawn,  Matin  Calm, 
Tranquillity  of  the  Morning,  etc.  Nevertheless 
those,  who  at  the  opening  of  history,  coined  this 
term,  were  not  thinking  so  much  of  the  smile  of 
Heaven,  the  blush  of  the  aurora,  or  even  of  "the 
innocent  brightness  of  a  newborn  day,"  as  of  the 
favour  of  "the  dragon  countenance,"  that  is,  of  the 
Chinese  Emperor.  Their  eyes  were  on  China. 
Korean  nursery  tales  ascribe  the  first  use  of  the  name 
to  Kija,  1 12  2  B.C.  The  reality  arose  from  the  vas- 
sals, who,  coming  over  the  borders  from  the  eastern 
land,  basked  in  the  glow  of  the  suzerain's  favour. 


20         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

This  indicated  the  fresh  new  day's  hour  of 
promise. 

Mother  Earth's  wrinkled  skin,  as  left  in  conden- 
sing from  the  fire  mist,  furnished  Korea  with  the 
frontiers  bordering  other  lands,  besides  boundaries 
for  the  provinces.  The  corrugations  on  "this 
terrestrial  ball,"  that  formed  as  the  planet  cooled, 
are  the  rocky  ridges.  In  endless  lines  and  chains, 
the  mountains  cross  and  recross  the  surface  of 
Korea,  making  an  amazing  network  of  valleys, 
which  have  little  space  for  plains  hi  a  lakeless  land. 
One  mighty  range  furnishes  the  eastern  back-bone 
of  the  peninsula,  while  the  lower  western  hills  and 
slope  give  the  land  its  fertile  fields.  From  the  peak 
which  crowns  all  Korea,  the  Ever  White  Mountain, 
containing  in  its  crater,  the  Dragon's  Pool,  flow 
the  two  streams  that  create  Korea's  northern 
frontier.  By  the  rivers  and  the  mountain  chains, 
the  old  eight  provinces  were  divided  one  from  the 
other,  Nature  thus  dictating  the  lines  of  demarca- 
tion, and  making  convenient  divisions.  Of  late 
years,  five  of  the  large  provinces  have  been  parti- 
tioned into  halves,  making  thirteen  in  all.  Those 
facing  China  are  named  Tranquil  Peace,  Yellow 
Sea,  Capital  Circuit  and  Complete  Network. 
Those  fronting  Japan  are  named  Perfect  Mirror, 
River  Moor  and  Joyful  Honour. 

Ordained  by  the  Almighty,  who  set  this  people 
between  the  mountains  and  the  sea,  to  be  a  nation, 
and  determined  the  bounds  of  their  habitation, 
thus  so  distinctly  marked,  the  destiny  of  the  Koreans 
seemed  foreshadowed  by  their  situation,  while 


God's  Korea — Morning  Splendour     21 

the  two  "  great  voices"  of  freedom,  named  by 
Wordsworth,  made  them  lovers  of  their  own 
national  life.  This,  though  so  much  and  at  so  many 
points  like  the  Chinese  or  Japanese,  is  notably 
different.  Facing  China  Korea  received  more 
than  she  returned.  With  her  mountain  back 
turned  to  the  archipelago,  she  gave  freely  to  Japan, 
yet  gained,  until  lately,  little  in  return. 

So,  in  its  larger  features,  Korea,  as  it  came  from 
the  hand  of  God  is  beautiful.  As  if  the  vast  undula- 
tions of  a  stormy  sea  had  suddenly  frozen  at  the 
divine  command,  Cho-sen  is  a  mountain  land, 
so  full  of  peaks  and  lines  of  hills,  of  mountains, 
range  on  range,  as  to  seem  to  the  native  born  as 
much  alive  as  himself.  While  on  his  own  soil, 
he  can  not  escape  them  or  be  out  of  sight  of  them, 
for  always  and  everywhere  they  are  visible.  As 
the  Hebrew  saw  the  mountains  "skipping,"  "leap- 
ing like  rams,"  "rejoicing"  and  the  trees  on  them 
"clapping  their  hands"  and  otherwise  acting  as 
if  they  were  living  beings,  endowed  with  a  will  and 
a  purpose,  so  the  Korean  personifies  his  native 
hills  over  all  of  which  is  the  Great  One,  Hannanim, 
whom  Christian  natives  call  Jehovah. 

Long  ago  these  summits  wore  God's  clothing  and 
were  rich  in  forests,  the  growth  of  ages,  but  exactly 
like  the  wasteful  Chinese  of  ancient,  and  Americans 
of  modern  date,  the  Koreans  cut  down  their  trees, 
neglecting  to  replant.  Hence  their  land  has  suf- 
fered as  China  has  and  America  will,  while  the 
Japanese,  on  the  contrary,  plant  two  trees  for 
every  one  cut  down.  To  the  islander,  who  is  a 


22         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

forester  by  habit,  Korea  is  the  Land  of  Treeless 
Mountains. 

"Wilful  waste  makes  woful  want."  To-day 
the  energies  of  millions  are  wasted  in  raking  up 
grass  and  leaves  for  fuel  and  warmth  where  abun- 
dance of  excellent  timber  ought  to  be  and  might 
yet,  by  wisdom  and  care,  be  at  hand.  Already 
have  the  new  masters  of  the  land  replanted  millions 
of  little  trees  to  redeem  the  error  of  the  past.  For- 
bidding are  the  bare  hills  and  inhospitable  seems 
the  land  from  a  ship's  deck,  but  once  within,  the 
rich  valleys  and  fertile  farms  reverse  grandly  the 
picture.  Let  no  one  judge,  while  at  sea,  the  coun- 
try's resources  or  dwell  in  his  prejudices  created 
by  coast  impressions.  Looking  like  a  cave  from  the 
outside,  it  is  like  Ali  Baba's  crypt  of  treasures  when 
seen  from  within.  When  the  Russo-Japanese  war 
in  1904  was  precipitated  by  the  Russian  spoliation 
of  the  great  timber  forests  at  the  head  waters  of  the 
Yalu,  the  world  was  surprised  at  the  amazing  re- 
sources of  Korea  in  lumber. 

Like  country,  like  people.  As  one  must  not 
judge  the  face  of  the  land  wholly  by  its  appearance 
along  the  coast,  so  must  one  withhold  his  verdict 
upon  the  people  when  studied  only  at  the  seaports, 
or  by  tourists  who  get  up  late  and  saunter  out  doors. 
Korea  is  above  all  a  farming  and  village  country. 
Nine-tenths  of  the  people  till  the  soil.  The  peasan- 
try is  a  hardy  and  industrious  one. 

The  land  is  well  watered.  The  rivers  are  suf- 
ficiently abundant  to  carve  and  cut  through  the 
rocks,  make  beautiful  scenery,  furnish  a  certain 


God's  Korea — Morning  Splendour      23 

amount  of  navigation,  yield  moisture  for  greenery 
and  storage  of  irrigation  for  rice — the  great  food 
crop  for  her  millions.  On  the  northeast  is  the 
Tumen,  which  divides  the  State  from  Russia  and 
Manchuria.  On  the  northwest  is  the  historic 
Yalu,  whose  native  name  Amnok,  shows  that  its 
glancing  color  matches  the  exquisite  sheen  upon 
the  green  duck's  plumage.  On  its  magnificent 
bosom,  when  in  flood  float  the  greatest  rafts  of 
timber  in  the  world,  while  on  its  banks  are  cities 
and  sites  of  battle  fields.  The  Yalu  is  the  line  of 
demarcation  between  pigtails  and  topknots,  the 
prosperous,  blue-coated  farmers  from  China,  and 
the  poverty-stricken,  white-robed  Koreans.  For 
ages  it  has  been  in  history  Korea's  Rubicon,  the 
crossing  of  which,  from  either  side,  meant  war. 
Further  south  is  the  Ta  Tong,  or  Great  Eastern 
River,  on  which  lies  Ping  Yang,  a  famous  and 
historic  city,  the  seat  in  legend  of  the  founder  of 
Korea's  civilisation,  containing  even  his  reputed 
tomb.  Once  the  Sodom  of  Korea,  it  is  now  one 
of  the  fairest  flowers  in  Christianity's  newest  garden. 
"The"  central  river,  which,  passing  by  the 
capital  and  ever  rising  first  in  the  national  imagina- 
tion, has  its  sources  in  the  recesses  of  the  moun- 
tains which  overlook  the  sea  of  Japan,  is  the  Han. 
Traversing,  westwardly,  the  whole  peninsula,  it 
furnishes  the  life-blood  of  circulation  to  the  centre 
of  the  national  body.  It  is  called  Sale"e  (or  salt) 
on  French  maps,  and  the  capital  Seoul  (Soul). 
Other  cities  besides  Soul  or  Keijo  (in  Japanese) 
nestle  upon  its  banks.  At  its  mouth  a  rocky  island 


24         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

fitly  called  Kang-wa,  or  River  Blossom,  deflects  its 
main  flood  south  and  some  of  the  water  to  the 
north.  Still  further  south  are  smaller  but  no  less 
enriching  rivers  that  water  the  warmer  and  more 
fertile  southern  half  of  the  peninsula.  One  famous 
stream,  the  Nak  Tong,  navigable  for  a  hundred 
miles,  drains  the  great  southwestern  province 
facing  Japan,  the  most  populous  in  the  realm.  In 
this  valley,  with  its  seaport,  lay  glorious  Silla, 
the  medieval  state,  whence  Buddhist  missionaries 
and  civilisers  crossed  to  Japan,  and  to  which  Chinese 
fleets  were  guided  by  the  mariner's  compass,  before 
Europe  ever  heard  of  such  a  thing.  To  Silla's  ports 
came  Arabic  vessels  and  carried  to  the  Occident 
that  trembling  finger  of  God  that  led  Columbus 
across  the  deep  to  find  America.  At  Bagdad, 
the  fame  of  Korea's  artistic  products  was  well 
known  and  some  of  the  most  entertaining  of  the  sea 
and  wonder  tales  in  the  Arabian  Nights  are  probably 
only  idealised  stories  of  voyages  to  Korea. 

From  north  to  south,  this  Nak  Tong,  flowing 
through  the  entire  length  of  the  province  and 
navigable  for  over  a  hundred  miles,  drains  the  most 
extensive  and  populous  valley  in  the  realm.  Cho- 
sen would  not  be  the  superbly  fertile  country  that 
it  is,  without  its  rivers. 

Thus  with  the  seas  almost  wholly  encircling  her, 
rich  in  mountains,  glens,  arable  fields  and  fertile 
terraces,  Korea  is  ever  robed  not  only  in  tints  pro- 
duced by  the  constant  caresses  of  the  sunlight 
falling  upon  the  moisture-laden  air  of  countless 
valleys,  but  also  in  colours  of  spring  and  autumn 


God's  Korea — Morning  Splendour     25 

that  excel  the  storied  shepherd's  coat  or  a  kingly 
robe.  Their  country  is  beautiful,  and  the  people 
know  and  feel  its  charm.  One  might  almost  call 
this  the  Land  of  Lilies,  were  it  not  that  other  families 
of  flowers,  violets,  eglantine,  roses,  white  and  red, 
lilacs  and  rhododendrons  are  equally  prolific,  while 
in  the  orchards,  peach  and  pear  blossoms  fill  the 
land  with  glory  and  beauty.  In  the  endless  pro- 
cession of  the  seasons  there  are  lovely  blossoms 
from  snowfall  to  snowfall  again.  Hills  and  valleys 
become  a  riot  of  colour  from  the  azaleas,  that 
strike  the  gamut  of  tints  from  snowy  white  to 
deepest  orange.  One  botanist,  in  a  single  after- 
noon's ramble  over  the  hills  around  Soul  brought 
home  a  bouquet  of  forty-seven  varieties  of  flowers; 
another  near  Chemulpo,  in  one  day,  exceeded  this 
number  by  a  dozen. 

Not  all  the  flowers  are  affluent  of  sweet  odours, 
but  enough  of  them  carry  aroma  in  their  chalices 
to  make  the  breezes  sweeping  from  the  mountain 
heights  delicious  to  the  senses.  In  spring  time, 
especially,  the  winds  often  come  perfume-laden  to 
refresh  and  delight.  In  the  autumn  odour  yields 
to  colour  and  the  hardier  flowers.  Among  these, 
the  aster  and  golden  rod  drape  the  hills  in  scarlet, 
gold,  purple  and  varied  tints.  Even  if  one  were 
blind,  he  would  learn  from  the  Korean's  delighted 
exclamations  while  on  the  road,  from  his  heart 
that  speaks  in  his  face,  from  his  poetry  and  folk- 
lore, from  the  habits  of  travellers  and  even  from  the 
common  burden  bearers  who  are  cultured  to  enjoy, 
how  fair  is  nature  and  how  lovely  is  the  landscape 


26         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

to  the  native.  The  choice  places  of  resort  and 
famous  scenery  have  been  celebrated  in  the  common 
language  and  in  the  poets'  lore  of  a  thousand  years. 

As  if  the  blendings  and  variegations  of  earth  and 
sky,  of  the  interplay  of  aerial  moisture  and  sunshine 
did  not  sufficiently  enrich  Nature's  palette,  there 
are  other  tints,  varied  and  abundant  in  the  plumage 
of  the  birds  and  the  fur  of  a  rich  fauna.  The 
black  and  white  of  the  snowy  heron,  the  pink  of  the 
ibis  and  the  brilliant  markings  of  the  pheasant 
attract,  while  even  the  striping  of  the  tigers  and 
spotting  of  the  leopards  are  noteworthy- — though 
best  enjoyed  when  off  the  beasts  and  on  chair  or 
floor.  Those  with  a  passion  for  colour  will  find 
in  the  veinings  and  stains  of  the  rocks,  the  tinting 
of  the  soil,  the  variety  in  gems,  metals  and  build- 
ing stones  much  to  please  the  eye,  even  though  granite 
is  the  predominating  rock,  its  mass  making  moun- 
tains, and  its  attrition  the  whitish-looking  soil 
seen  everywhere. 

One  may  easily  believe  in  the  recently  elaborated 
theory  that  all  great  races  and  civilisations  are 
permanently  maintained  only  in  regions  visited 
by  a  certain  number  of  storms  annually  and  where 
the  climate  is,  in  large  measure,  an  uncertainty. 
In  this  view,  Korea,  which  has  one  of  the  most 
delightful  climates  in  the  world,  with  seasons  that 
are  almost  too  regular,  is  not  calculated  to  breed  a 
hardy,  self-reliant  race  capable  of  the  greatest 
achievements.  There  are  indeed  extremes  of 
temperature,  from  ten  degrees  below  to  a  hundred 
above  zero.  In  valleys  in  the  north,  snow  to  the 


God's  Korea — Morning  Splendour     27 

depth  of  three  feet  lies  on  the  ground  a  fourth  part 
of  the  year  and  river  ice  three  feet  thick  is  known, 
but  the  winter  over  the  larger  area  of  population 
is  rather  mild.  South  of  the  Han  River  one  hardly 
ever  thinks  of  sleighs  or  skates,  though  these  furnish 
temporary  fun  for  alien  dwellers  in  the  country. 
The  winter,  for  the  most  part,  is  delightful.  Then 
comes  springtime,  with  its  armies  of  flowers,  its 
mantle  of  green  and  bloom,  its  billows  of  grasses, 
and  the  lovely  haze  that  softens  the  whole  land- 
scape. In  April  and  May  the  early  and  light  rains 
fall.  The  most  depressing  of  all  seasons  is  that 
of  the  heavy  rainfall  of  July  and  August,  when  the 
rivers  rise  with  a  rapidity  that  perils  life  and 
property.  Then  Soul,  a  cavity  among  the  mounj 
tains,  becomes  a  bath  tub,  with  shower  attachment 
and  steam  galore.  Twenty  inches  of  rain  are  de- 
posited on  the  surface  of  the  earth  and  occasionally 
a  fall  of  five  inches  is  recorded.  It  seems  then, 
for  the  soil,  a  staggering  task  to  carry  off  to  the  sea, 
the  river  of  heaven  that  has  apparently  dropped 
from  above.  Everything  out  doors  is  bathed  in 
moisture,  while  within  the  house  it  gathers  on 
furniture,  floors,  and  coverings  of  all  sorts.  Then 
the  walls  glisten  and  the  drops  run  and  chase  each 
other  downward  as  on  a  window  pane  on  a  rainy 
day.  Whatever  is  of  organic  texture  grows  a  heavy 
crop  of  mould.  Sometimes,  even  overnight,  black 
leather  shoes  look  like  piles  of  greenish  snow  in 
the  morning.  The  autumn  is  beautiful  and  early 
winter  lovely.  In  a  word,  for  ten  months, 
nature  makes  life  a  delight.  A  more  uncertain 


28         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

and  bracing  climate,  with  the  steady  discipline  of 
uncertainty,  would  breed  a  tougher  type  of  man, 
and  richer  in  moral  stamina.  One  hardly  looks 
in  Korea  for  the  kind  of  people  that  are  grown  in 
Old  or  New  England,  or  in  Scotland,  Holland,  Den- 
mark, or  Scandinavia.  The  Korean's  gifts  and  graces, 
which  are  many,  are  otherwise  manifested. 

Over  the  greater  part  of  the  peninsular  area  there 
is  no  question  as  to  the  fertility  of  the  soil.  Yet 
despite  the  abundant  watering  of  the  land,  in  its 
valleys  and  river  channels,  the  supply  from  the 
river  of  heaven  is  by  no  means  regular.  Since  rice 
is  the  most  precarious  of  all  crops,  requiring  plenty 
of  moisture  at  certain  critical  periods,  the  crop 
fails  if  the  rain  does  not  fall  in  the  nick  of  time. 
Korea,  like  China  and  old  Japan,  has  often  known 
what  famine  is,  and  the  Government  realises  that 
when  the  storehouses  are  empty,  riot,  tumult, 
and  political  disorder,  sprout  in  place  of  grain. 
"Keep  their  bellies  full"  was  one  of  Laotsze's 
maxims  for  the  social  quiet  of  the  masses.  Oftener 
there  is  patiently  borne  suffering,  with  multitudinous 
deaths.  On  the  whole,  however,  the  conditions 
favouring  agriculture  are  excellent.  In  the  long 
run,  Korea  has  been  a  land  in  which  people  were 
fairly  well  fed,  cases  of  starvation  not  common, 
and  beggars  rare. 

In  a  word,  Korea,  as  it  comes  from  the  hand  of 
God  and  as  Nature  has  endowed  it,  is  gloriously 
beautiful,  like  that  land  of  promise  described  in 
the  eighth  chapter  of  Deuteronomy — if  the  natives 
and  men  besotted  with  Confucianism  only  knew 


God's  Korea — Morning  Splendour      29 

it!  The  soil  being  above  the  average  in  fertility, 
is  able  to  bring  forth  more  than  enough  food  for 
the  people  who  dwell  in  it.  The  surrounding 
oceans  form  an  endless  storehouse  of  food,  as  well 
as  material  for  light  and  the  fertilising  of  the  fields. 
The  rocks  are  rich  in  lodes  and  galleries  of  mineral 
wealth.  The  precious  and  the  useful  metals  are 
fairly  abundant.  The  timber  preserves  of  the 
northern  forests,  the  possibilities  of  communication, 
and  the  whole  inventory  of  natural  resources  and 
potencies,  when  considered,  either  in  the  light  of 
the  devout  believer,  or  the  man  of  science,  call 
fourth  in  the  human  spirit  ascription  of  glory  to 
God  and  of  thankfulness  to  Nature.  To  the  re- 
flective mind,  however,  the  situation  provokes  the 
wonder  that  man,  put  on  this  beautiful  land,  as 
tenant  at  will,  but  with  large  powers  as  an  agent, 
given  by  his  Master,  has  not  done  more  to  make 
the  willing  earth  yield  more  abundantly  and  to 
win  out  of  the  ocean,  the  treasure-stored  hills,  and 
the  rivers  rich  in  golden  sand,  more  substance  for 
the  comfort,  enrichment,  and  exaltation  of  life. 
It  seems  almost  the  law  of  the  universe,  as  it 
certainly  is  the  voice  of  human  history,  that  in 
place  of  those  who  do  not  hear,  understand,  or 
obey  the  divine  command  to  "  replenish  and 
subdue,"  there  comes  sooner  or  later  another 
race  of  men,  who,  hearing  and  obeying,  demonstrate 
of  what  the  earth  is  capable.  That  law  has  been 
demonstrated  in  Korea,  which  is  now  an  integral 
part  of  the  Empire  of  Japan.  The  Korean  realm  is 
no  more  a  Hermit  Nation. 


II 

Man's  Korea — Realities  of  Life 

WHAT  is  Korea's  true  history?  We  all 
know  the  story  of  how  in  1122  B.C., 
when  the  Chow  dynasty  in  China  came 
to  an  end,  a  statesman  (whose  name  is  read  Ki-tse 
in  Chinese  and  Kija  in  Korean)  who  declined  to 
serve  the  new  ruler  left  the  Court  and  journeyed 
eastward  with  five  thousand  followers.  So  far 
the  Chinese  annals. 

The  Korean  nursery  story  is  that  Kija  came  into 
the  peninsula,  established  his  capital  in  the  valley 
of  the  Ta  Tong  River  and  at  Ping  Yang  began  his 
civilising  operations.  He  taught  the  people  laws, 
ethics,  measures  and  standards  of  value.  To 
every  Korean  child,  this  legend  is  as  sacred  writ 
interpreted  by  infallible  orthodoxy.  Hundreds  of 
foreigners  living  on  the  soil  accept  it  without  salt 
and  a  hundred  gravely  written  books  and  the  ency- 
clopedias repeat  this  pretty  tale. 

Now  apart  from  what  actually  happens  in  human 
experience,  the  writing  of  history  is  an  industry 
which,  like  all  other  crafts  and  arts,  follows  models 
and  is  influenced  by  human  conceits,  rivalries, 
and  prejudices.  Just  as  our  savage  ancestors  in 
Europe,  when  they  received  Roman  letters  and 

30 


Man's  Korea — Realities  of  Life      31 

Latin  culture,  followed  Trans-Alpine,  Greek  and 
Hebrew  patterns  in  literature  and  took  even  their 
new  religion  in  its  Latin  form,  so  the  early  tribes 
in  Korea,  when  rising  from  barbarism  into  civilisa- 
tion, gained  their  first  knowledge  of  writing  from 
the  Chinese.  Possibly  some  of  this  learning  filtered 
into  the  peninsula  before  or  about  the  time  of  the 
Christian  era,  but  all  that  the  early  or  late  Koreans, 
or  the  Japanese  knew  about  their  own  history, 
previous  to  the  introduction  of  letters,  has  been 
derived  from  written  sources  in  China.  When  the 
peninsular  tribes  came  to  political  consciousness 
and,  borrowing  from  the  Chinese  annals,  scholars, 
began  to  put  down  on  paper  what  they  supposed 
to  be  their  history,  in  all  probability  they  then, 
for  the  first  time,  heard  of  Kija  and  the  story  of 
his  eastward  journey.  How  dogma  is  manufac- 
tured, and  often  when  and  where  made,  is  as  clear 
as  crystal,  especially  when,  as  in  Japan,  it  is  used  as 
an  engine  of  government. 

It  may  be  safely  affirmed  that  the  story  of  Kija's 
settling  inside  the  boundaries  of  modern  Korea  and 
founding  for  the  Koreans  their  civilisation  did  not 
take  form  or  become  elaborated,  until  long  after 
the  establishment  of  Chinese  learning  in  the  penin- 
sula; that  is,  at  some  time  later  than  the  sixth 
century,  A.D.  The  existence  of  a  tomb  at  Ping 
Yang,  which  was  badly  damaged  in  the  China- 
Japanese  war  of  1894  and  has  since  been  rebuilt, 
proves  nothing  as  to  reality.  In  this  statistical 
Sahara  there  is  always  a  "  history  "  of  "  4000  years" 
and  a  Korean  family  of  "20,000,000  people." 


32         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

The  great  outstanding  event  in  the  development 
of  the  Korean  nation  is  the  introduction  of  Buddhism 
A.D.  352,  when  the  various  tribes  were  already 
organised  into  three  kingdoms,  or  states.  Buddhist 
missionaries  came  in,  bringing  images,  writings 
and  art.  In  their  train,  for  centuries,  followed  a 
long  line  of  teachers,  artificers,  scholars  and  men  of 
skill  and  learning,  by  whom  the  native  people  were 
made  cultured  and  enlightened  and  given  hope 
of  life  hereafter,  of  which  Confucianism  knows 
nothing.  By  the  tenth  century,  when  the  three 
waning  states  were  fused  into  one  kingdom  of 
Korai,  Buddhism  had  become  the  faith  of  the  mass 
of  people.  From  Quelpart  Island  to  the  Ever 
White  Mountains,  Korea  gained  religious  as  well 
as  political  unity. 

During  this  period  of  a  thousand  j-ears  of  Bud- 
dhism's establishment  and  expansion,  Korea  enjoyed 
her  most  brilliant  era  of  prosperity.  Those  monu- 
ments of  skilled  labor,  in  the  cutting  and  rearing 
of  stone  tablets,  pagodas,  astronomical  observa- 
tories and  other  structures,  the  ruins  of  which  litter 
Korean  cities,  colossal  images,  carved  out  of  granite 
and  still  rearing  their  imposing  forms  above  the 
forest  that  covers  the  overgrown  debris  of  what 
were  once  monasteries,  temples  and  cities,  show 
what  the  Koreans  could  do  when  in  the  full  strength 
of  faith  and  the  energy  of  belief.  The  almost 
utter  absence  of  artistic  memorials  after  the  fall 
of  Buddhism  and  the  devastations  of  hostile  armies 
in  ruthless  invasions  from  Tartary,  China  and  Japan, 
have  left  the  country  scraped  so  bare,  that  travel- 


Man's  Korea — Realities  of  Life      33 

lers  of  to-day  doubt  and  wonder  whether  they  ever 
existed.  Contemporary  records,  however,  are  rich 
in  their  testimony  as  to  Korea's  former  prosperity 
and  comparatively  high  grade  of  civilisation. 
Japan's  debt  to  Korea,  in  the  gifts  of  peace  and  the 
loot  of  war,  is  written  large. 

Nevertheless  the  pride,  insolence  and  intrigue 
of  priests  at  court,  when  the  state  religion  of  Korea 
existed  for  parasites  to  fatten  upon,  invited  revolu- 
tion and  disastrous  overthrow  at  the  hands  of  a 
revolting  general.  After  a  brief  civil  war,  in  1392, 
Buddhism  was  supplanted  as  the  religion  of  the 
court  and  put  under  disgrace  and  ban.  Though 
some  writers  view  this  change  as  a  national  upris- 
ing worthy  of  all  praise,  it  is  none  the  less  a  fact 
that  the  common  people  of  Korea,  deprived  of  their 
pastors,  were  left  as  sheep  without  a  shepherd. 
The  religious  experience  of  no  nation  more  than 
of  Korea  illustrates  more  strikingly  the  sentiments 
of  Washington,  in  his  farewell  address,  as  to  the 
necessity  of  religion  in  a  people.  Without  teachers 
and  helpers  the  natives  fell  back  into  that  primitive 
Shamanism,  or  cult  of  the  spirits,  from  which  they 
had  been  lifted  by  the  Buddhist  evangel.  Korean 
Buddhism,  degenerate  through  latter  worldly  pros- 
perity, was  far  removed  from  Shakya  Muni's 
noble  eightfold  path  of  virtue,  even  as  the  simple 
Christianity  of  Jesus  has  been  corrupted  by  priest- 
craft and  overweighted  by  dogmas  of  which  he  knew 
nothing.  From  1392,  Confucianism  became  the 
state  ritual  and  the  medieval  philosophy  founded 
on  it  the  creed  of  the  average  Korean  gentleman. 


34         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

Let  us  look  at  that  primitive  belief  which  ante- 
dates all  others.  No  better  mirror  of  what  the 
Korean  actually  believes  can  be  found  than  that 
furnished  by  his  folk-lore  and  painted  on  his  battle- 
flags  and  in  his  shrines.  This  form  of  literature, 
older  than  writing  and  book  religion  of  any  sort, 
has  survived  all  imported  rituals  or  systems  of 
thought.  These  fundamental  dogmas  of  beast 
and  spirit  lore  show  the  working  of  the  average 
man's  mind.  Some  of  this  lore  is  undoubtedly  of 
medieval  and  later  growth,  especially  that  in  its 
present  verbal  or  written  form,  but  the  substance 
of  it  reveals  the  pre-ancient  belief  in  the  existence 
of  spirits  everywhere,  most  of  which  are  malignant. 
Folk-lore  shows  an  incalculably  large  population 
of  active  intelligencies,  more  or  less  bestial  in  their 
shape  and  ways.  They  are  continually  busying 
themselves  with  the  affairs  of  men.  They  inhabit 
the  trees  and  rocks  and  dwell  in  the  mountains  and 
valleys,  where  they  groan  and  sigh.  No  part  of 
earth,  air,  sky,  or  the  waters  under  the  earth  is 
free  from  their  interference.  Wherever  human 
activities  take  place  or  in  any  structure  reared  by 
man,  they  come  in  troops.  Among  the  rafters, 
on  and  under  the  floor,  in  the  flues,  beneath  the  foun- 
dation, by  the  kitchen  fireplace,  and  on  the  walls, 
they  are  liable  to  be  found  as  thickly  as  the  vermin 
that  in  Korea  lurks  in  the  habitations  and  makes 
use  of  the  human  cuticle.  In  box,  bundle,  and  jar, 
on  brush  and  broom,  wherever  man  and  especially 
woman  goes,  they  are  surrounded  by  them  as  surely 
as  science  assures  us,  we  are  beset  by  billions  of 


Man's  Korea — Realities  of  Life      35 

germs  and  spores.  These  demons  are  ever  ready 
to  work  havoc  in  the  form  of  disease.  At  every 
point  of  his  life,  they  are  believed  so  to  touch  the 
superstitious  native,  that  as  one  studies  the  subject, 
he  beholds,  in  this  doctrine  of  the  omnipresence 
of  demons,  the  delirium  tremens  of  paganism  and  the 
caricature  of  a  most  precious  truth — that  of  God's 
indwelling  presence  everywhere. 

The  most  interesting  results  of  these  degraded 
beliefs,  to  which  students  of  comparative  religion 
give  learned  names,  is  seen  first  in  the  horrible 
growth  of  the  human  microbes — geomancers,  necro- 
mancers, fortune  tellers,  demon  exercisers,  etc., 
who  fatten  upon  such  a  culture.  These  rob  the 
Korean  not  only  of  his  purse,  but  of  his  very  life. 
In  the  second  place,  out  of  such  mental  morbidity 
springs  a  vast  array  of  demon  shrines,  carved  log 
idols,  old  trees  decorated  with  rags,  heaps  of  stones 
piled  up  in  fearsome  places,  dusty  fetiches  suspended 
from  the  rooftrees  of  the  houses,  and  spirit  posts 
found  near  the  house  in  nearly  every  yard.  All 
these  growths  of  superstition,  both  human  and 
material,  as  of  deadly  night-shade,  mean  the  loss 
of  millions  of  dollars  every  year.  Out  of  these 
superstitions  and  decomposition  of  old  beliefs 
have  arisen  breeds  of  witches  and  wizards — the 
former  more  numerous  than  the  latter — whose 
native  names  show  that  they  claim  to  have  com- 
munications with  and  power  over  the  spirits. 
Whether  the  house-father  will  sow  seed,  build  a 
dwelling,  take  a  journey,  make  a  venture  in  business, 
marry  one  of  his  children,  seek  wealth  or  health, 


36         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

or  be  healed  of  disease,  he  as  the  poor  slave  of 
superstition  must  pay  the  soothsayer  for  his  antics 
of  tomfoolery  and  deception.  In  sickness  he  must 
bear  the  burden  of  mental  agony  in  addition  to 
pain  and  bodily  discomfort.  In  every  village,  a 
tax  is  laid  upon  all  to  propitiate  the  mountain 
god,  to  hold  back  the  tiger,  or  to  prevent  the  letting 
loose  of  woes  unutterable.  At  the  devil  shrines, 
bags  of  grain  must  be  offered,  even  if  children  starve. 
In  the  mountain  pass,  the  shrine-keeper's  fee  must 
be  handed  over  to  him  or  calamities  will  follow. 
At  each  village  entrance,  rudely  carved  posts, 
uglier  than  Milton's  sin  or  a  Jersey  scarecrow, 
represent  the  "General  of  Heaven"  and  the  "Queen 
of  Hell."  Old  Korea  was  a  domain  of  fear  and  in 
it  dwelt  twelve  million  slaves.  Whatever  theories 
one  may  hold  as  to  demoniacal  possession,  it  is 
certain  that  this  realm  was  full  of  the  possessed. 

Nevertheless,  despite  all  that  was  disgusting  to 
the  senses  and  degrading  to  the  intellect,  there  was 
much  to  make  the  Korean  proud  of  his  country. 
So  long  as  he  had  for  comparison  only  Japan,  on 
which  he  looked  as  an  island-kingdom  of  semi- 
savages;  or  mighty  China,  his  own  country's  supe- 
rior in  every  way,  reverenced  as  a  glorious  model, 
whence  had  come  all  culture  in  letters,  learning, 
philosophy,  science,  morals  and  manners,  the  Korean 
could  feel  that  his,  after  the  Central  Empire,  was  the 
greatest  country  in  the  world  and  his  own  the  great- 
est people.  Had  he  not  everything  to  be  thankful 
for?  Must  he  not  be  grateful  to  his  ancestors,  to 
his  sovereign,  Favourite  of  the  Most  High,  and  the 


Man's  Korea — Realities  of  Life      37" 

dynasty  in  that  wonderful  city  of  Soul,  to  which 
all  roads  led,  whose  splendours  every  native  hoped 
to  gaze  upon  before  he  died? 

What  if,  to  the  cold  eyes  of  the  alien,  this  capital 
city  seemed  little  better  than  a  mushroom  patch, 
an  odd  collection  of  thatched  huts,  a  filthy  hole, 
with  the  majority  of  the  people  living  in  what  would 
be  in  the  West  considered  abject  poverty?  What 
if  the  land  cursed  with  slavery  cast  out  its  sick 
bondmen  and  women  to  die  outdoors  when  aban- 
doned as  useless  animals?  What  if  an  imaginary 
"twenty  millions"  of  natives  and  a  real  half  of  this 
number  were  oppressed  and  robbed  in  the  name  of 
the  law,  by  a  million  lazy  parasites,  of  the  Yang- 
ban  or  official  class?  The  average  Korean  gentle- 
man hated  manual  labor  and  honest  work  as  he  did 
a  cat.  He  would  not  soil  his  hands  to  help  others. 
His  women  might  spend  their  lives  in  cooking, 
washing  and  laundering  for  him,  so  that  he  might 
appear  in  the  immaculate  white  cotton,  or  in  gay 
colored  silks  and  the  large  black,  wide-rimmed  hat 
of  his  class,  while  waiting  for  office,  or  in  some  way 
expectant  of  or  depending  upon  the  public  crib. 
Like  many  other  patriots  who  fed  on  tradition, 
rather  than  facts,  many  of  these  genteel  persons 
in  the  salaried  official  brotherhood — of  whom  three 
thousand  held  office  in  Soul,  while  eight  hundred 
sufficed  for  the  rest  of  the  country — they  were  for 
the  most  part  astonishingly  ignorant  of  their  own 
country.  When  their  General  Min  committed 
suicide  in  1905,  because  his  country  had  lost  her 
independence,  he  left  a  farewell  address  containing 


38         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

about  a  hundred  characters,  in  which  the  phrase, 
"twenty  million  compatriots"  occurs  four  times, 
though  the  first  census,  taken  in  1910  showed  only 
a'few  over  twelve  millions  in  the  peninsula. 

These  then  were  the  things,  in  substance  and  in 
imagination,  of  which  a  Korean  might  be  and  was 
proud.  He  was  keenly  sensitive  to  the  beauties 
of  nature,  the  grandeur  of  the  mountains,  the  glories 
of  the  sky  and  earth,  the  traditions  of  his  fatherland 
and  of  the  ancestry  which  he  honoured  and  worship- 
ped. He  was  polished,  polite,  dignified.  He  took 
time  to  be  courteous.  Long  years  of  familiarity 
with  inherited  conditions  had  blunted  or  blinded 
him  to  those  things,  unpleasant  or  revolting,  which 
a  foreigner  from  the  West  might  at  first  notice  or 
despise.  His  sense  of  smell,  for  example,  was  for 
him,  as  for  us  all,  less  a  matter  of  sensitiveness  or 
insensitiveness,  than  of  education.  He  had  by 
acquiescence  from  childhood  travelled  in  the  deep 
rut  of  custom,  which  was  to  him  as  iron  law,  and 
so  slipped  easily  through  the  grooves  of  circumstance. 
The  graveyard  and  its  voices  governed  him.  His 
ideal  of  the  golden  age  was  in  the  past. 

If  he  lived  in  the  capital  he  would  be  wakened  in 
the  morning,  or  lulled  to  peace  at  night,  by  the  blasts 
of  sound,  supposed  to  be  music  which  accompanied 
the  opening  or  closing  of  the  city  gates.  If  in  the 
village,  he  might  keep  up  the  illusion  of  city  gran- 
deur and  high  walls  and  gates,  when  there  were 
none,  with  a  similar  sound  of  instruments.  At 
breakfast  he  was  served  by  the  women  folks,  ser- 
vants and  children.  During  the  day  he  followed 


Man's  Korea — Realities  of  Life      39 

the  routine  of  service  as  officer  or  hanger  on,  or 
killed  time  with  smoke,  games,  wine  and  dancing 
girls.  The  curfew  of  the  great  bell  in  the  centre 
of  the  city  and  the  grating  of  the  hinges  of  the  city 
gates  told  him  of  a  day  past.  Then  looking  up 
at  the  peaks  of  the  Great  South  Mountain,  he 
would  behold  the  beacon  fires  which,  carrying  the 
message  in  flame  from  frontier  and  sea-shore  as 
by  telegraph,  from  peak  to  peak,  announced  that 
all  was  peace  in  the  land.  Then,  at  9  P.M.,  while 
he  gave  himself  up  to  chat  with  his  fellows,  in  his 
own  or  some  neighbour's  social  front  room,  with 
refreshments  or  sedentary  games,  the  females  of 
his  household  were  free  to  go  outdoors,  find  fresh 
air  in  the  city  streets,  or  make  social  calls. 

This  was  the  Korean  woman's  hour  of  freedom. 
Reversing  our  notions  of  propriety,  the  authorities 
punished  severely  with  the  paddle  all  male  humanity 
discovered  at  large,  while  the  female  world  employed 
the  opportunity  for  visiting,  gossip  or  mutual  help. 
Until  too  many  aliens  invaded  and  modernised 
Soul,  this  absence  of  men  and  boys  from  the  public 
streets  was  the  rule.  A  thousand  dancing  lanterns 
told  of  woman's  privilege  on  the  thoroughfares. 
Nightkeys  among  the  men  were  unknown. 

Thus,  with  his  food  and  clothing  prepared  for 
him,  the  well-to-do  head  of  the  Korean  family  let 
the  years  slip  by  to  old  age.  When  he  at  last  went 
to  sleep  with  his  fathers  on  the  hillside,  he  knew 
that  his  sons,  in  filial  piety,  would  maintain  the 
house  tablets  and  the  stated  sacrifices  in  his  honour, 
would  watch  over  his  grave  and  see  that  it  was  kept 


40         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

in  order  and  free  from  desecration.  The  spur  of 
fame  drove  him  to  seek,  at  every  hazard  and  sac- 
rifice, male  issue,  sons  who  should  be  his  worshippers 
after  death. 

So  within  the  limits  of  his  light  and  knowledge, 
in  the  ordinary  times  of  prosperity,  the  Korean 
was  contented  with  his  lot.  Whether  in  humble 
life  and  ordained  to  toil  and  taxes,  or  among  the 
ranks  of  privilege,  he  might  at  times  complain,  but 
in  the  main,  he  was  submissive  to  what  he  called 
fate  or  custom,  or  Heaven's  decree,  and  higher 
standards  being  absent,  he  settled  into  a  fairly 
cheerful  view  of  life,  with  habits  of  abounding 
hospitality.  He  was  possessed  of  virtues,  which, 
though  too  often,  in  their  excess  of  manifestation 
running  into  vices,  helped  him  to  enjoy  life.  He 
counted  this  a  good  world  to  be  in.  Even  when 
disease,  suffering,  poverty,  or  oppression  from  those 
of  higher  station  had  to  be  endured — being  past 
all  cure — the  native  had  at  least  the  compensation 
of  feeling  that  they  were  the  troubles  of  his  own 
household  and  not  caused  by  a  foreigner  or  from 
gall-sores  caused  by  wearing  a  conqueror's  yoke. 

What  booted  it  that  Korea  had  been  repeatedly 
invaded  from  every  point  of  the  compass,  devastated 
by  the  ocean  islanders,  the  northern  savages  who 
lived  behind  the  mountains,  and  the  great  Chinese 
hosts?  By  the  mass  of  the  people,  the  sturdy 
peasantry,  of  fine  physical  development  and  solid 
qualities,  these  far-off  events  were  as  quickly  for- 
gotten as  are  the  desolations  of  volcanoes.  When 
the  lava  cools,  the  vineyards  rise.  For  two  hundred 


Man's  Korea — Realities  of  Life      41 

years  and  over,  Korea  had  been  the  Land  of  Great 
peace.  As  for  the  danger  of  similar  visitations 
in  the  future,  the  people  never  dreamed  of  such 
a  thing.  It  was  as  though  in  the  castle  of  Indolence, 
Thorn  Rose  still  lay  sleeping. 

In  a  word,  the  mental  attitude  of  Korea  was  well 
expressed  in  the  reply  to  the  American  minister 
Low,  who  in  1866  sought  to  make  a  treaty — "How 
tan  four  thousand  years'  ceremonies,  music,  litera- 
cure  and  all  things  be,  without  sufficient  reason 
broken  up?" 


Ill 

The  Hermit's  Doors  Forced  Open 

SUDDENLY  like  the  stroke  of  doom,  what 
seemed  to  be  a  sub-oceanic  earthquake  lifted, 
before  the  eyes  of  the  Koreans,  "a  great  blue 
sea  of  troubles."  The  tidal  wave  of  modern 
civilisation  rolled  over  the  land  and  threatened  to 
overwhelm  it.  Fleets  and  armies  from  Europe 
humbled  the  China  that  had  hitherto  been  thought 
invincible.  The  sacred  capital,  Peking,  despite 
its  cyclopean  walls,  was  forced  and  even  the  Son 
of  Heaven  affronted  in  his  palaces  which  were  laid 
in  ruins.  In  Japan  not  only  did  the  starry  banner 
appear  in  her  waters,  but  without  firing  a  hostile 
gun,  the  American  commodore,  in  1854,  with  his 
warships,  won  two  open  ports.  Then  Harris,  in 
1858,  eclipsing  even  Perry's  triumph,  gained  the 
rights  of  trade,  commerce,  and  the  residence  of  the 
missionaries  of  the  dreaded  religion.  Civilisation 
seems  often  to  ride  on  a  powder  cart,  but  America 
in  the  East  has  been,  as  President  Arthur  said, 
"  the  Great  Pacific  Power." 

On  February  6,  1858,  two  events  took  place; 
in  space,  seven  thousand  miles  apart;  in  the  prog- 
ress of  the  kingdom  which  is  not  of  this  world,  they 
are  in  harmony  and  true  spiritual  perspective. 

42 


The  Hermit's  Doors  Forced  Open     43 

Townsend  Harris,  at  Shimoda,  in  Japan,  virtually 
concluded  the  main  articles  in  the  treaty  by  which 
foreign  residence  was  secured  in  five  ports  or  cities 
in  Japan.  In  America,  near  Souderton,  Mont- 
gomery Co.,  Pa.,  in  the  old  homestead,  near  the 
Bethlehem  Turnpike,  was  born  Henry  Gerhard 
Appenzeller,  destined  of  God  to  do  a  mighty  work 
in  Korea.  In  the  sight  of  Him  who  notes  the 
sparrow's  fall,  in  the  progress  of  the  Kingdom,  the 
two  events,  the  warship  and  the  cradle,  may  be  of 
equal  value. 

The  Japanese  turned  their  faces  away  from  China 
and  the  graveyard  and  looked  toward  Christendom. 
Within  the  lifetime  of  a  single  man,  Nippon  abolished 
her  feudalism,  united  her  local  factions,  and  stood 
forth  a  resistless  unity  armed  with  modern  science 
and  in  panoply  of  war.  Nothing  in  Japan's  his- 
tory has  so  much  impressed  Confucian  Asia  as  her 
solidarity.  Her  ability  to  smite  hard  as  one  mass 
where  dualism  and  division  formerly  ruled,  aston- 
ished the  Koreans  who  looked  at  their  neighbour's 
transformation  with  shivers  of  impotent  fear. 

Russia,  dismembering  northern  China,  extended 
eastward  her  borders  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  south- 
ward until,  across  the  river  along  eleven  miles, 
the  Koreans  could  see  Russian  soldiers  and  traders; 
while  near  by,  at  Vladivostock,  defiantly  named 
"  Dominion  of  the  East, "  rose  a  fortress  impregnable 
even  to  European  navies.  Invading  traders  and 
armed  robbers  from  the  United  States,  France, 
and  Germany  violated  the  frontiers  of  Korea  and 
entered  her  rivers  with  armed  hostile  expeditions. 


44         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

The  French  priests  who  in  the  disguise  of  widowers 
in  mourning  had  crossed  her  boundaries,  became 
bolder  and  diligently  propagated  their  dogmas 
until  tens  of  thousands  of  believers,  only  too  ready 
to  invoke  French  military  and  naval  intervention, 
formed  an  imperium  in  imperio.  Thus  while  it 
seemed  as  though  the  whole  greedy  Occident  was 
about  to  extend  its  depredations  to  the  hermit 
nation,  dire  evils  portended  at  home.  The  reign- 
ing family  failed  to  produce  an  heir  to  the  throne 
and  three  royal  widows  at  the  palace  were  at  the 
mercy  of  the  intriguing  rival  or  hostile  parties. 

At  this  juncture,  the  strong  man,  like  Germany's 
Bismarck,  or  England's  Cromwell,  unexpectedly 
appeared  in  Korea. 

First,  a  boy  must  be  nominated  heir  to  the  throne. 
He  is  that  same  individual  who,  as  helpless  minor, 
adult  king,  bone  of  contention  between  China  and 
Japan,  centre  of  intrigue,  riot,  battle,  kidnapping 
and  humiliation,  refugee  from  the  palace  to  the 
Russian  legation,  petitioner  at  Washington  and  at 
The  Hague  for  intervention,  restored  figure-head, 
hater  of  pro-Japanese  reform  and  unquailing  persecu- 
tor of  reformers,  pigmy  emperor  and  bestower  of 
a  constitution,  which  was  a  mockery  and  a  farce, 
debaser  of  the  coin  and  finally  a  deposed  prince, 
vassal  of  the  Japanese  Emperor  and  passive  mem- 
ber of  the  nobility  of  Japan — a  creature  of  vast 
hopes  and  colossal  disappointments — is  well  known 
to  the  world,  through  his  oft-taken  pictures  re- 
produced in  books  and  newspapers. 

.The  royal  candidate's  father  was  supposed  to  be 


The  Hermit's  Doors  Forced  Open     45 

a  mild  and  suave  nobleman  and  absorbed  scholar, 
with  a  lack  of  political  ambition  tantamount  to 
self-effacement.  Yet  when  he  received  the  title 
of  Tai  Wen  Kun,  or  Great  Palace  Prince,  he  mounted 
the  aeroplane  of  a  vast  ambition  and  soared  out 
and  up  into  regions  of  power,  to  which  even  few 
Korean  sovereigns  had  ever  aspired.  He  embarked 
in  schemes  of  terrific  extravagance  in  the  way  of 
palace  building,  increased  the  taxes,  catered  to  the 
rougher  elements  in  society  and  among  the  lower 
classes,  threw  down  the  gauntlet  of  defiance  to  all 
aliens,  taunted  the  reformed  Japanese  Government 
of  1868,  in  a  stinging  letter  of  insult,  and  in  general 
showed  a  fierce  determination  to  make  Korea  strong 
by  exerting  the  full  resources  of  the  realm  for  his 
own  glory.  In  the  spring  of  1866  (the  year  of  the 
advent  of  the  American  armed  schooner,  General 
Sherman  and  of  the  German,  Oppert's  attempted 
robbery  of  the  royal  graves)  this  man,  with  "heart 
of  stone  and  bowels  of  iron"  lured  traitors  and  in- 
formers to  expose  the  whole  Roman  Catholic 
situation,  issued  anti-Christian  edicts  that  resulted 
in  the  slaughter  of  probably  ten  thousand  native 
Christians,  and  enticed  out,  through  betrayal,  or 
secured  by  voluntary  surrender,  nine  French 
Catholic  priests.  These  were  beheaded,  after  slow 
mutilation  on  the  common  execution  ground  by 
the  river  side. 

After  these  spring  massacres,  the  French  Admiral 
Roze,  with  seven  ships  of  war  and  fifteen  hundred 
men  came  to  Korea  to  inquire  and  avenge.  Two 
gunboats  were  sent  up  the  river  and  lay  in  view 


46         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

of  the  capital.  Receiving  no  apology,  the  French 
admiral  landed  a  force  which  sacked  and  burned 
Kang-wa.  Then,  with  a  detachment  of  marines, 
organised  more  like  a  picnic  than  for  serious  war, 
and  expecting  to  lunch  in  the  Buddhist  monastery 
as  in  a  lightly  entered  chapel  of  ease,  the  French 
marched  gaily  inland.  Instead  of  fenced  garden, 
they  found  a  highwalled  fortress.  Bravely  met  by 
the  northern  tiger  hunters,  they  were  driven  off 
with  many  dead  and  wounded.  The  Admiral 
departed  with  his  ships,  and  the  average  opinion 
among  the  natives  was  that  "  our  boys  had  hand- 
somely beaten  off  the  enemy. ' '  So  they  thought  also 
about  the  Americans  who  came  in  1871.  To 
compare,  for  example,  "  Admiral  Schley's  Own 
Story,"  (and  especially  the  sensational  illustrations 
made  for  it  in  1912  in  order  to  fire  the  American 
war-lover's  heart),  with  the  situation  as  seen  by  a 
Korean,  or  even  one  familiar  with  the  facts,  shows 
how  patriots  on  opposite  sides  see  things  differently. 

The  anti-Christian  edicts  published  throughout 
the  realm  and  in  Soul  were  engraved  in  large 
Chinese  characters  and  upon  a  stone  tablet  erected 
near  the  great  bell  in  the  centre. 

The  ban  of  death  read  as  follows: 

"The  barbarians  from  beyond  the  sea  have 
violated  our  borders  and  invaded  our  land.  If  we 
do  not  fight,  we  must  make  treaties  with  them. 
Those  who  favour  making  a  treaty  sell  their  coun- 
try. Let  this  be  a  warning  to  ten  thousand 
generations." 

In  later  years  the  Methodist  Book  Store  and 


The  Hermit's  Doors  Forced  Open     47 

printing  press,  founded  by  Appenzeller,  stood 
within  a  few  yards  of  this  vanished  token  of  reaction, 
overwhelming  with  the  flood  of  science  from  presses 
and  stores  of  literature  the  ideas  out  of  which  such 
a  memorial  could  arise. 

This  stone  of  defiance  was  reared  in  the  year 
1871,  when  it  was  expected  that  the  American 
Expedition  under  Rear-Admiral  John  Rodgers, 
was  on  its  way  to  demand  satisfaction  for  the 
destruction  of  the  schooner  General  Sherman  and 
her  crew  at  Ping  Yang  in  1866,  and  to  force  a 
treaty.  Admiral  Bell  wanted  two  thousand  men, 
in  addition  to  the  marines  and  sailors  in  the  Asiatic 
squadron,  in  order  to  hold  Soul.  Rodgers,  who  had 
asked  for  a  larger  force,  came  on  May  30,  1871, 
with  five  ships  of  war,  mounting  eighty-five  cannon 
and  manned  by  twelve  hundred  and  thirty  men  and 
anchored  near  Kang-wa  island.  Minister  Low  of 
China  was  on  board  the  frigate  Colorado  for  peaceful 
diplomacy.  Rodgers  sent  two  gunboats,  the  Monoc- 
acy  and  Palos,  towing  a  squadron  of  boats,  to  enter 
and  survey  the  Han  River,  though  warned  by  the 
obedient  Captain  Blake  of  a  sure  fight  within  a 
few  minutes.  The  Americans  were  fired  upon. 
Later  our  men  stormed  the  forts,  seven  in  number 
killing  or  wounding  about  three  hundred  natives. 
Having  "vindicated  the  honour  of  the  flag, "  Rodgers 
came  away. 

The  Korean  tiger  hunters  from  the  two  northern 
provinces,  fought  nobly  defending  their  native 
soil.  They  not  only  stood  their  ground  against 
vastly  superior  arms  and  numbers,  but  charged 


48         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

repeatedly  on  the  Dahlgren  howitzers  that  blew 
them  with  shell  and  shrapnel  to  atoms.  In  the 
forts,  or  near  by,  they  fought  until  the  last  man 
yielded  up  his  life  for  his  country.  Morally 
judged,  the  American  could  boast  nothing  over 
the  Korean  whose  land  he  had  invaded.  Rodgers' 
expedition  of  1871  laid  an  endless  obligation  on 
Christian  America  to  send  spiritual  ploughmen  to 
blood-reddened  Korea,  and  Christ-filled  men  skilful 
in  the  use  of  the  pruning  hook  to  carry  the  gospel 
of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

The  land  was  quiet  for  five  years  notwithstanding 
that  in  Japan  the  old  two-sworded  samurai,  socially 
the  kinsmen  of  the  Korean  Yang-ban,  clamoured 
for  the  invasion  of  Korea. 

A  greater  moral  battle,  than  ever  Japanese 
fleets  or  armies,  before  or  afterwards  won,  whether 
in  Manchuria  or  the  Sea  of  Japan,  took  place  in  the 
Japanese  cabinet  in  Tokyo,  when  the  embassy 
round  the  world  returned  from  their  tour  in  the 
autumn  of  1873.  It  was  held  and  fought  out  by 
brain  and  tongue  before  the  Emperor  himself.  It 
was  a  struggle  of  wits  that  meant  Japan's  weal  or 
woe.  The  war  party,  clamouring  for  instant  venge- 
ance on  Korea,  was  beaten.  Wise  men  in  power 
saw  that  for  Japan  to  irritate  the  Northern  Bear, 
fight  prematurely  when  unprepared  and  their 
modern  weapons  too  new,  would  be  to  play  into 
the  hands  of  Russia.  The  peace  party  won  and 
warlike  activities  were  postponed  a  few  months, 
later  to  be  transferred  to  Formosa,  where  Japanese 


The  Hermit's  Doors  Forced  Open     49 

in  modern  dress  and  arms  met  the  head  hunting 
savages. 

On  September  10,  1875,  Japanese  sailors  in  the 
garb  which  all  the  world  has  borrowed  from  the 
British  navy,  since  Nelson's  time,  were  surveying 
in  Korean  waters  to  get  material  for  their  superb 
chart-room  in  Tokyo.  These  men  were  mistaken 
for  Frenchmen  and  fired  on  from  the  fort  at  Kang-wa. 
Though  but  a  handful  in  numbers,  the  Mikado's 
marines,  giving  an  object  lesson  of  Japanese  valour 
and  of  the  power  of  modern  rifles,  stormed  and 
captured  the  fort. 

When  the  news  reached  Tokyo,  the  Government 
saw  its  opportunity,  even  while  holding  the  war 
party  in  check.  A  diplomatic  expedition  was 
organised  on  the  model  of  President  Fillmore's 
peaceful  armada  of  1853,  even  to  details  that  seem 
comical.  Having  as  yet  no  navy  of  any  size, 
transports  were  painted  with  mock  portholes  to 
look  like  men-of-war.  General  Kuroda  was  sent 
to  Soul  to  make  a  treaty  that  should  recognise 
Cho-sen  as  an  independent  nation,  while  Mori  the 
Mikado's  envoy  acted  in  Peking.  This  procedure 
was  meant  to  insert  the  wedge  and  strike  the  first 
blow  of  the  beetle  that  should  split  to  pieces  for- 
ever China's  decrepit  doctrine  of  world-sovereignty, 
which  demanded  that  all  neighbour  nations  be  also 
subject  to  her  as  vassals  and  pay  tribute. 

By  tact,  backed  by  a  show  of  force,  a  treaty  was 
won  and  the  way  thus  paved  by  which  the  United 
States,  also,  through  China's  approval  and  the 
assistance  of  Li  Hung  Chang,  secured  a  treaty. 


50         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

The  American  Commodore  Shufeldt  signed  the 
instrument  on  May  7,  1882,  at  the  magistracy  near- 
est to  Chemulpo.  It  was  in  fourteen  articles  and 
in  comprehensiveness  far  excelled  the  treaty  obtained 
by  Perry  from  Japan  thirty  years  before.  Yet 
Shufeldt's  great  triumph  attracted  little  notice. 
He  obtained  no  thanks  from  his  Government,  but 
only  neglect.  This  was  probably  on  account  of 
the  publication,  unknown  to  him,  of  a  private  letter, 
concerning  the  Empress  of  China,  to  a  friend. 
Official  jealousies  of  estranged  politicians  in  Wash- 
ington, however,  had  much  to  do  with  it.  The 
treaty  was  sent  to  the  Senate  July  29,1882,  ratified 
January  9,  1883  and  proclaimed  in  Soul,  May  19 
and  June  4,  1883,  when  General  Lucius  H.  Foote, 
the  American  minister  had  already  arrived  in  Soul 
and  secured  audience  of  the  king. 

China  also  made  a  treaty,  but  evaded  the  question 
of  recognising  the  full  sovereignty  of  her  ancient 
vassal  Korea  and  therein  sowed  the  seed  that  ripened 
in  the  war  of  1894-95.  Meanwhile  the  Korean 
crown  prince  had  become  king  and  been  married 
to  a  lady  of  the  Min  family,  three  years  older  than 
himself,  and  possessed  of  the  highest  mental  force. 
A  typical  Korean  woman,  of  the  most  pronounced 
hereditary  and  national  characteristics,  past  master 
in  palace  intrigue,  she  was  well  worthy  to  lead  the 
most  determined,  most  unscrupulous,  and  the  most 
powerful  of  all  the  clans,  or  factions,  that  claimed 
a  strain  of  royal  blood  and  demanded  the  chief 
spoils  of  office,  the  Min.  An  absolute  slave  to 
superstition,  she  was  ever  ready  to  seek  favour  alike 


The  Hermit's  Doors  Forced  Open     51 

from  sorcerers,  wizards,  Buddhist  priests  or  Con- 
fucian bigots,  in  order  to  secure  her  ends,  personal, 
feminine,  maternal,  political,  or  patriotic.  By  far 
the  strongest  character  in  the  palace,  she  over- 
shadowed in  ability  her  husband — one  of  the 
weakest  of  weak  men. 


IV 
The  Methodists  and  the  Appenzellers 

TO  return  American  courtesies  and  to  ratify 
the  treaty,  an  embassy,  consisting  of  the 
cousin  of  the  Queen  and  ten  other  persons, 
started  in  an  American  man-of-war  for  Washington, 
arriving  at  San  Francisco  September  2d.  They 
spent  three  months  in  the  United  States.  With 
this  embassy,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  spending  the 
evening  of  Nov.  25,  1883,  at  the  Hotel  Victoria 
in  New  York,  conversing  with  them  through  the 
medium  of  the  Japanese  and  especially  with  the 
aid  of  Lieutenant  Foulke,  U.S.N.  This  noble 
Christian  gentleman,  who  later  became  the  intrepid 
explorer  of  the  Eight  Circuits,  was  ever  the  undis- 
couraged  friend  of  Korea,  despite  the  attack  on  his 
life  by  native  ruffians. 

In  crossing  the  American  continent,  the  members 
of  the  Korean  embassy  were  met  by  Dr.  John  F. 
Goucher  of  Baltimore,  the  distinguished  educator 
and  founder  of  Goucher  Woman's  College  in  Balti- 
more. Learning  of  the  conditions  and  opportuni- 
ties in  this  virgin  field,  Dr.  Goucher  offered  $2000 
to  the  Methodist  Mission  Board  in  New  York  for 
the  founding  of  a  mission  in  the  Land  of  Morning 
Splendour.  The  fifteen  or  more  editorials  of  Dr. 

52 


The  Methodists  and  the  Appenzellers    53 

Buckley,  in  the  Christian  Advocate  during  the  year, 
also  brought  forth  further  gifts  from  Methodist 
gentlemen,  amounting  to  $2000.  A  little  girl  in 
California,  nine  years  old,  gave  $9 — an  earnest  of 
the  noble  work  later  done  by  the  young  people  of 
the  Epworth  League. 

Things  had  hardly  quieted  down  in  Korea. 
Morning  Calm  was  hardly  yet  a  fitting  name  for 
the  country.  Against  the  brilliant  woman  Queen 
Min,  the  undying  hate  of  her  father-in-law  was 
kindled  and  burst  out  unquenchably  like  volcano 
fires.  The  story  of  the  relations  of  these  two 
ambitious  rivals  and  clan  leaders  is  a  travesty  on 
the  idea  of  filial  piety  and  of  Korean  theory,  ortho- 
doxy and  tradition.  It  is  one  in  which  "envy, 
hatred,  malice  and  all  uncharitableness "  ruled,  and 
in  which  attempts  at  murder  by  the  sword,  poison, 
powder  and  dynamite  were  common  incidents.  The 
feud  finally  culminated  in  the  old  fellow's  leadership 
of  an  armed  body  of  ruffians  from  over  sea,  who 
forever  disgraced  the  name  of  Japan  by  murdering 
this  woman  and  cremating  her  body,  with  petroleum- 
drenched  mats^from  her  own  palace  floor,  October 
8,  1895. 

Although  this  incident,  in  the  order  of  our  narra- 
tive, is  anticipatory,  it  gives  a  correct  idea  of  the 
elements  at  work  which  kept  the  country  in  a  state  of 
dangerous  unrest.  There  were  imminent  potencies 
of  public  explosion,  while  the  laws  and  edicts  pro- 
hibiting Christianity  and  under  which  torture  and 
the  murder  of  thousands  had  been  wrought,  were 
unrepealed. 


54         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

In  the  teeth  of  all  these  forbidding  circumstances, 
Bishop  Fowler,  secretary  of  the  Missionary  Society, 
pressed  forward  the  enterprise  of  spying  out  the 
new  land  as  a  preliminary  to  further  occupation, 
in  the  Caleb-like  faith  that  the  Methodists,  under 
God,  "were  well  able  to  possess  it."  At  the  meeting 
of  the  General  Missionary  Committee,  in  1883, 
it  was  decided  to  found  a  mission  in  Korea,  and  Dr. 
R.  S.  Maclay,  then  in  Japan,  was  appointed  to 
visit  the  capital.  He  arrived  at  Soul  in  June 
1883,  the  first  one  of  any  Protestant  Church  or 
society  to  enter  lawfully  the  Forbidden  Land. 
When  the  United  States  minister,  General  Lucius 
Foote,  explained  the  proposed  enterprise,  the  king 
approved,  being  particularly  glad  that  the  work 
of  healing  and  teaching  would  be  begun. 

Soon  after  Dr.  Maclay  had  returned  to  Japan, 
Dr.  Horace  N.  Allen  was  transferred  by  the  Pres- 
byterian Board  from  Nanking,  China.  He  arrived 
September  20,  1884,  not  only  as  the  first  resident 
missionary  in  that  land,  but  also  to  be  the  pioneer 
of  science  and,  later,  the  able  and  wise  expander 
of  American  diplomacy  and  enterprise  in  Korea. 
As  an  accomplished  member  of  the  two  classes — 
missionary-propagandist  and  commercial-diplomatic, 
and  knowing  both  the  Korean  ways  that  were  dark 
and  peculiar,  as  well  as  those  of  greedy  foreigners^ 
more  or  less  altruistic,  and  being  himself  a  bright 
and  delightfully  human  personality,  he  was  able 
to  render  extraordinarily  good  service  between  the 
United  States  and  Korea,  the  natives  and  aliens, 
the  Korean  Government  and  its  own  citizens  and 


The  Methodists  and  the  Appenzellers    55 

foreign  guests,  its  friends  and  its  enemies.  In 
short,  Dr.  Allen,  in  the  twenty-one  years  of  his 
service,  under  four  presidents,  made  a  record 
that  is  unique  in  American  relations  with  the  Far 
East.  Other  men  may  stand  more  conspicuously 
before  the  public,  even  as  the  fighter  and  blood- 
shedding  victor  in  war  strikes  most  powerfully 
the  popular  imagination,  and  just  as  Dewey  met 
with  salvoes  of  popularity,  while  Kempff,  the 
peaceful  vindicator  of  American  policy  in  China, 
was  ignored  by  his  President  and  Senate  and  is 
popularly  unheard  of,  and  even  Shufeldt  is  virtually 
unknown  to  fame.  Yet  we  repeat  it.  No  man 
in  the  Far  East,  in  the  American  diplomatic  service, 
ever  did  more  for  fair  play  and  sound  statesmanship, 
for  justice  between  the  races,  for  the  coming  of 
Christ's  kingdom  in  the  earth,  and  for  the  realisation 
of  that  ultimate  civilisation  which  exalts  the 
triumphs  of  reason  above  those  of  force  and  of 
peace  above  those  of  war. 

Meanwhile  in  New  York,  from  the  watch  tower 
of  observation  the  Methodist  Mission  Board  sought 
out  two  pickets  for  the  advance  line  in  Korea. 
A  force  was  to  be  gathered  to  attack  the  great 
uninvaded  realms  of  disease,  ignorance,  sin,  vice, 
and  superstition  in  the  Hermit  Nation.  These  men 
and  their  wives  were  to  go  out  in  the  name  of  Him 
who  came  to  fulfil  not  to  destroy.  Their  business 
was  to  preserve  not  only  life,  health  and  moral 
excellence,  but  to  conserve  whatever  was  good  and 
worth  keeping  in  the  civilisation  of  the  old  kingdom. 
Cool-headed,  warm-hearted,  hot  with  zeal  for  the 


56         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

Master,  yet  level-headed  and  wise  through  self- 
effacement,  they  must  be  men  willing  to  bear  and 
suffer,  to  labour  and  to  wait.  The  one  was  to 
bear  chiefly  the  spiritual  message,  to  minister  to 
minds  diseased  and  to  feed  hungry  souls,  the  other 
to  heal  bodies  and  improve  health.  The  medical 
man  was  William  B.  Scranton,  a  graduate  of  Yale 
University  and  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  in  New  York.  Happily  he  had  not  only 
a  good  wife,  but  a  mother  who  made  a  noble  record 
in  beginning  the  educational  uplift  of  the  native 
women.  She  virtually  opened  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  history  of  womanhood  in  modern  Korea. 
Yet  how  pitifully  small  seemed  this  forlorn  hope  of 
Methodist  Christianity  to  invade  the  raw  paganism 
of  a  hermit  nation ! 

On  December  8,  1884,  while  a  coup  d'etat  in 
Soul  by  the  returned  Korean  Liberals,  followed 
by  the  decapitation  and  murder  of  their  rivals  and 
a  bloody  street  battle  between  the  Japanese  and 
Chinese  soldiers,  the  latter  led  by  China's  man  of 
destiny,  Yuan  Shi  Kai,  was  taking  place,  Dr. 
Scranton  was  ordained  in  New  York  city  by  Bishop 
Fowler. 

The  missionary  colleague  of  Dr.  Scranton  was 
Henry  Gerhard  Appenzeller,  destined  to  seventeen 
years  of  signally  successful  service  in  Korea,  whose 
story  we  shall  proceed  to  tell.  In  that  wonderful 
ethnic  composite — the  American  people,  Switzer- 
land of  the  free  has  furnished  not  the  least  potent 
ingredient.  Among  the  Teutonic  Swiss,  the  men 
of  Appenzell  are  among  the  best  known  in  art, 


The  Methodists  and  the  Appenzellers    57 

poetry  and  history,  while  also  furnishing  many 
illustrious  names  in  the  Reformed  church,  the 
annals  of  education  and  the  story  of  civilisation. 

Of  Lord  Macaulay's  reference  to  "  Appenzell's 
stout  infantry,"  in  his  poem  "The  Battle  of  Ivry," 
all  the  world  knows.  This  trio  of  words  is  far  more 
familiar  than  the  German  Zellweger's  four-volume 
History  of  the  Appenzell  People:  the  American 
Consul-General  Richman's  scholarly  study  of 
"Appenzell:  Pure  Democracy  and  Pastoral  Life;" 
or  even  the  overthrow  at  the  battle  of  Nancy  of 
the  Burgundian  Duke,  Charles  the  Bold,  by  the 
hardy  Swiss  mountaineers. 

In  our  narrative,  the  name  Appenzell  is  both 
appropriate  and  prophetic  of  the  gospel  pioneer  in 
Korea.  When  steeped  in  ancient  Teutonic  pagan- 
ism, Christian  missionaries  came  from  Ireland  with 
the  gospel  story  into  northeastern  Switzerland,  and 
famous  indeed  is  the  story  of  their  triumphs.  The 
idols  of  the  forest  and  glen  were  thrown  into  the 
lake  and  in  their  places  rose  churches  dedicated  to 
the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit.  The  methods 
of  the  monks  of  St.  Gall  were  those  fitted  for  their 
age  and  they  grew  in  power  and  influence.  The 
abbot's  cell  (abbatis  cella)  became,  in  local  phrase, 
"Appenzell."  A  Christian  community,  or  monas- 
tery centre,  of  refining  influences  throve  where  idols 
had  long  overawed.  Thus  was  accomplished  the 
first  reformation,  which  was  under  Latin  forms  of 
culture  and  in  governmental  harmony  with  Rome 
as  the  seat  of  ecclesiastical  power.  In  time  the 
people  freed  themselves  from  the  secular  rule  of 


58         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

the  prince  bishops,  had  their  code  of  laws  written 
in  the  "Silver  Book"  and  governed  themselves  as 
a  democracy. 

Early  in  the  sixteenth  century  Appenzell  was 
permitted  to  put  two  golden  keys  in  the  forepaws 
of  the  bear,  on  its  coat  of  arms.  Brilliant  is  the 
picture  given  of  the  great  cantonal  meetings,  when 
the  whole  commonwealth  assembled  in  the  open 
air  for  political  deliberation. 

Under  that  re-birth  of  Greek  theology,  based 
on  the  oldest  text  of  the  New  Testament,  and  with 
the  Bible  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  the  second 
or  great  Protestant  Reformation  began.  Zwinglius, 
the  native  Swiss,  beginning  his  preaching  in  1518, 
was  the  leader.  The  Church,  reformed  according 
to  apostolic  simplicity,  with  the  laymen  in  control 
of  ecclesiastical  offices  and  sacraments,  became 
one  of  the  many  Reformed  Churches  in  Europe. 

In  1597,  the  Appenzell  people  divided,  one- 
half  of  them  taking  to  the  Latin  and  medieval 
phase  of  the  Christian  faith  and  the  other  half 
to  the  Greek,  primitive,  or  reformed  order,  which 
politically  was  named  Protestant,  because  against 
the  arbitrary  and  Roman  methods  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.  thinking  men  protested.  From  such 
origins  arose  and  developed  the  (German)  "Re- 
formed Church  in  the  United  States,"  one  of  many 
branches  of  the  common  stock,  in  the  Reformed 
churches  in  the  various  European  countries,  which 
was  rooted  in  the  Bible  and  not  in  a  human  cor- 
poration in  Italy.  Of  this  great  movement  of  the 
human  spirit,  Methodism  based  on  personal, 


The  Methodists  and  the  Appenzellers    59 

experimental  religion,  is  one  of  the  noblest  develop- 
ments. It  was  not  enough  to  have  the  aristocratic 
intellect  of  Calvin.  It  pleased  God  to  send  into 
the  world  John  and  Charles  Wesley,  with  wanner 
hearts,  to  broaden  the  message. 

From  the  time  of  Charles  the  Bold,  when  in  1477, 
that  truculent  bully  was  overthrown  and  slain  by 
Swiss  peasants,  to  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  many  of 
the  young  Appenzellers,  thirsting  for  adventure, 
took  military  service  under  foreign  captains,  winning 
just  fame  for  the  steadiness  and  valour  which  Ma- 
caulay  has  so  celebrated  in  his  verse.  In  local 
history,  also,  the  Appenzellers  won  fame  as  war- 
riors. Rich  is  the  lore  and  many  are  the  tales  of 
heroism  and  valour  hi  the  days  when  war  was  the 
rule  rather  than  the  exception. 

The  first  Appenzeller,  ancestor  of  the  gospel 
pioneer  in  Korea,  reached  Pennsylvania — the  Holy 
Land  of  the  American  Germans — in  1735.  This 
fugitive  from  government  oppression  was  like  the 
Syrian  pilgrim  named  Jacob.  He  was  a  "redemp- 
tioner"  and  lived  all  his  American  life  as  tenant 
on  a  farm.  Out  of  the  class  of  "redemptioners," 
scholars  note  the  rise  of  such  men  as  Charles  Thomp- 
son, secretary  of  the  Continental  Congress;  the 
father  of  General  John  Sullivan;  and  Matthew 
Thornton,  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

The  gentleman  who  went  to  Philadelphia,  selected 
Jacob  Appenzeller  as  helper,  paid  his  passage, 
brought  him  to  Souderton  and  gave  him  employ- 
ment, was  named  Thomas.  His  farm,  which  was 
on  land  surveyed  in  William  Penn's  time,  was  part 


60         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

of  the  later  homestead  of  the  Appenzellers.  The 
redemptioner  married  into  the  Oberholtzer  family 
and  two  sons  were  born  of  this  union. 

In  the  second  generation,  Jacob,  the  older  son 
wedded  Nellie  Savacol,  in  the  northern  part  of 
Hilltown  township  in  Bucks  County,  and  thus 
came  into  possession  of  the  Appenzeller  homestead 
of  fifteen  acres,  to  which  he  later  added  another 
twenty-five  acres.  The  Revolution  coming  on, 
he  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States 
Government.  A  member  of  the  German  Reformed 
Church,  his  three  children,  Henry,  Jacob  and  Eliza- 
beth were  baptised  under  her  forms.  Until  1807 
the  Dutch  and  German  Reformed  churches  in 
America  were  under  the  same  government. 

The  education  of  Jacob,  in  the  third  generation, 
who  was  born  June  8,  1783,  and  lived  always  on  the 
homestead,  was  in  both  German  and  English.  Of  his 
four  children,  the  eldest,  a  son,  David,  saw  the  light 
March  26,  1808.  Jacob's  son  Gideon,  in  the  fourth 
generation  of  the  American  Appenzellers,  was  born 
January  14,  1823,  and  married  December  22,  1855, 
Maria  Gerhard — a  family  name  that  suggests  the 
debt  of  the  world  to  the  poets,  theologians,  scholars, 
and  men  of  science,  who  came  of  this  family  stock. 
Three  sons  were  the  result  of  this  union,  the  middle 
one  being  Henry  Gerhard  Appenzeller,  the  gospel 
pioneer  in  Korea,  born  February  6,  1858.  Thus,  in 
his  heredity  and  name,  were  blended  in  the  future 
apostle  to  the  Koreans,  besides  much  that  was  an- 
cient and  honourable  in  one  of  the  oldest  churches  of 
the  Reformation,  the  elements  of  promise  and  vigour. 


A  Christian  Soldier's  Training 

HEAVEN,  home,  mother,"  three  of  the 
noblest  words  in  our  English  tongue, 
were  as  one  in  Henry  Appenzeller's 
thoughts.  Each  stood  for  a  powerful  influence,  yet 
were  one — a  trinity  of  spiritual  force.  He  could 
not  separate  them.  In  mental  associations  and 
heart  life  they  made  unity. 

A  devoted  mother,  Maria  Gerhard  spoke  little 
English  to  the  day  of  her  death  and  with  her  Henry 
used  only  his  mother's  tongue — "Pennsylvania 
German" — until  the  age  of  twelve.  He  began  his 
schooling  when  five  years  old.  On  the  playground 
and  at  home  the  talk  was  in  the  German  local  dialect, 
but  before  the  teachers  and  in  recitations  he  used 
English. 

Henry's  mother  came  of  old  Mennonite  stock 
and  was  thus  of  the  same  culture  that  nourished 
the  earlier  life  of  that  noble  servant  of  Christ  in 
Korea,  Dr.  E.  B.  Landis.  Bible  study  is  one  of 
the  features  of  life  in  a  Mennonite  home.  So  she, 
as  had  been  her  own  mother's  custom  and  delight 
before  her,  gathered  her  three  boys  around  on 
Sunday  afternoons  and  reading  to  them  and  with 
them  in  the  German  Bible,  in  the  version  made  by 

61 


62         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

Luther,  kept  them  familiar  with  the  narratives  of 
Israel  and  the  rich  spiritual  truths  of  the  New 
Covenant.  Devoted  to  the  details  of  a  well  ordered 
home,  she  ever  held  up  before  her  children  high 
ideals  of  life 

Thus  both  by  absorption  at  home  and  later 
through  critical  study  A.  knew  the  language  of 
the  German  Fatherland,  using  it  easily  with  pen 
and  voice,  in  America  and  Europe  and  with  Germans 
in  Korea,  till  the  day  of  his  death.  By  later  scho- 
lastic training,  the  biblical  languages,  and  French 
learned  in  later  days  and  always  read  easily,  were 
his  own  and  in  use  of  them,  he  was  scholarly  and 
fluent.  In  loyalty  to  English,  he  would  have 
satisfied  De  Quincey,  who  placed  faithfulness  to 
one's  language  next  to  the  flag  of  his  country. 

A  bright  and  eager  child,  Henry  was  duly  drilled 
in  the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  This  superb  manual 
of  Christian  nurture  concerns  itself  with  imme- 
diately personal  religion,  being  based  on  the  Ten 
Commandments,  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Apostle's 
Creed,  and  is  also  rich  in  gems  of  thought  and 
felicities  of  language.  Besides  being  powerfully 
ministrant  to  that  piety  which  springs  out  of 
experimental  acquaintance  with  divine  truth,  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism  serves  also  as  a  means  of 
private  devotion  and  an  aid  to  spiritual  reflection. 
Henry  refers  to  this  "catechetical  class"  in  his 
boyish  diary.  His  father  was  not  warm  towards 
the  idea  of  infant  baptism,  so  the  boys  received 
no  water-consecration  until  near  the  time  of  their 
own  personal  profession  of  faith.  When  fourteen 


The  Christian  Soldier's  Training      63 

years  old,  four  days  after  being  baptised  at  home, 
November  12,  1872,  Henry  was  confirmed  in  the 
Emmanuel  Reformed  Church,  near  Souderton,  by 
the  same  pastor,  Rev.  Peter  S.  Fisher.  This  edifice 
is  popularly  called  "Leidy's  church,"  after  a  famous 
Pennsylvania  family — the  bronze  statue  of  Professor 
Leidy  standing  in  front  of  the  City  Hall  in  Phila- 
delphia. Henry  enjoyed  his  first  communion  in 
this  sacred  building,  which  is  used  by  both  the 
Lutheran  and  Reformed  congregations.  In  the 
older  cemetery  adjoining,  the  thickly  clustered  stones 
bear  well-known  local  and  historic  names,  and  in 
the  newer  enclosure  his  parents  lie  buried;  his 
ancestors  sleeping  in  the  burial  ground  of  the  Indian 
Creek  Reformed  Church,  a  few  miles  distant. 

All  intellectual  advantages,  within  the  pos- 
sibilities of  his  parents'  means,  were  offered  to  the 
bright  lad  and  these  he  eagerly  improved.  After 
public  school  training,  he  was  sent  to  the  West  Chester 
State  Normal  School  in  preparation  for  college. 

On  January  29,  1912,  the  biographer  visited  the 
Appenzeller  homestead.  It  is  situated  on  the  high- 
est ground  in  the  county  with  a  superb  sweep  of 
view  on  all  sides.  The  township  is  well  named 
Hilltown.  The  present,  substantial  stone  house 
was  erected  in  1860. 

From  about  the  year,  1870,  "Harry"  kept  a 
diary,  a  habit  which  was  in  line  with  his  systematic 
and  orderly  mental  processes,  so  that  he  rarely  if 
ever  blundered  in  dates,  while  his  thought  in 
deliberative  gatherings  and  in  public  discourses 
was  clarity  itself.  These  records,  both  boyish  and 


64         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

manly,  tell  of  a  chaste,  clean,  finely  developed 
body,  well  cared  for,  of  a  pure  brave  soul,  of  a  strong, 
modest,  clear-seeing  spirit  and  of  a  well  balanced 
organisation  in  superb  manhood.  No  tobacco 
stupefied  or  added  reek  to  breath,  clothes,  or 
physical  structure,  nor  did  alcohol  stimulate  or 
dull  that  alert  brain.  No  strong  coffee,  drugs,  or 
anything  out  of  bottles  or  druggists'  vials  were 
needed  for  daily  or  special  tasks.  Appenzeller 
believed  in  being  "full,"  yet  not  of  that  "wherein 
is  excess."  He  did  heartily  believe  in  being  "full 
of  the  Spirit."  His  was  a  body  ever  able  to  re- 
spond without  stimulants  to  the  calls  made  upon 
it,  for  continuous  work;  while  for  fresh  emergencies 
there  was  a  reserve  of  vigour.  Well  wrote,  in  1912, 
Bishop  Wm.  F.  Anderson,  his  classmate  at  Drew 
Seminary:  "Physically  he  was  one  of  the  stalwarts. 
Intellectually  he  was  alert  and  scholarly.  He  had 
a  warm  heart  and  a  sympathetic  nature."  Faith- 
ful in  duties,  quick  in  favourite  studies  and  fairly  so 
in  the  distasteful  or  difficult  ones,  A.  appreciated, 
in  true  filial  piety  and  in  good  measure,  the  advan- 
tages which  he  enjoyed. 

The  first  of  these  diaries,  in  an  ordinary  copy- 
book, shows  a  real  boy,  eager  in  his  farm  work, 
and  in  games  and  sports,  who  enjoyed  a  healthy 
life  and  liked  to  be  trusted.  He  could  gear  a  horse, 
thresh  grain,  pull  feed  for  stock,  go  on  a  tramp, 
ride  to  the  store  and  get  what  he  was  told  and 
bring  it  home  safely.  He  made  himself  generally 
useful,  while  learning  to  love  the  earth  and  sky, 
the  birds,  animal  life,  and  nature  in  many  moods. 


The  Christian  Soldier's  Training      65 

His  knowledge  of  boundaries,  land  values,  and 
whatever  meant  thrift  and  tenacity  in  farm  economy 
served  him  admirably  when  in  Korea.  He  was 
a  true  lover  of  the  soil. 

Reading  these  abundant  personal  records  of 
thirty-two  years,  from  1870  to  1902,  in  the  perspec- 
tive of  to-day,  with  the  side  lights  and  correctives 
of  collateral  testimony  and  information  from  many 
sources,  the  biographer  feels  that  he  can  safely 
call  his  subject  a  knightly  soldier,  "valiant  from 
spur  to  plume,"  a  warrior  of  God  who  took  on  the 
whole  armour.  In  defense  and  offense,  he  answered 
to  Paul's  splendid  picture  of  the  legionary  of 
Jesus.  A.  was  a  Christian  hero,  "without  fear 
and  without  reproach." 

This  "triumphant  Pennsylvanian,"  as  the  author 
of  "The  Vanguard"  calls  him,  seemed  sensitive 
on  all  sides  of  his  being  to  the  beauties  of  God's 
worlds  of  nature  and  revelation.  Possessed  through 
heredity  of  a  pair  of  singularly  bright,  keen  eyes, 
the  Spirit  that  "lighteth  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  world"  enlarged  and  extended  his  vision 
also  for  the  things  unseen  and  eternal.  Through 
creation  and  revelation,  Appenzeller  was  a  man  who 
saw  God.  To  his  child  Jehovah  not  only  was,  but  is. 

Not  all  his  soul  life,  nor  the  deepest,  did  this 
refined  gentleman,  who  never  wore  his  heart  on  his 
sleeve,  put  down  in  diaries.  Like  Browning  he  felt 

"God  be  thanked,  The  meanest  of  his  creatures  boasts  two 

soul-sides 
One  to  face  the  world  with;    one  to  tell  a  woman  when  he 

loves  her." 


66         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

So  he  talked  to  his  own  heart  and  set  down  in 
black  and  white  his  deepest  emotions — but  not 
where  others  might  read.  When  seeking  to  win 
the  hand  and  heart  of  the  one  who  became  the  "help 
meet  for  him"  and  the  mother  of  his  children,  he 
kept  his  thoughts  and  correspondence  in  a  separate 
book.  Tied  with  white  ribbon,  he  put  in  her  own 
hands  when,  the  mother  of  three  children,  she  lay 
upon  a  sick  bed,  this  autograph  record  for  her  cheer. 
A  potent  medicine  indeed!  Other  husbands  might 
well  test  the  efficacy  of  such  a  prescription  in  the 
day  of  a  wife's  despondency.  In  the  United  States 
Navy  the  standard  toast  to  "Sweethearts  and 
Wives"  is  this:  "May  every  sweetheart  become  a 
wife  and  every  wife  remain  a  sweetheart." 

It  was  while  at  West  Chester,  that  the  depths 
of  Christian  experience  in  the  soul  of  Henry  Appen- 
zeller  were  sounded  unto  true  conversion  and  it 
was  in  the  Presbyterian  church  of  that  pretty 
town  that  his  spiritual  enrichment  took  place. 
The  plummet  of  a  catechism  may  reach  no  deeper 
than  the  head.  A  personal  conviction  of  sin 
through  heart-searching,  an  awakened  conscience 
(or  in-wit,  our  Teutonic  ancestors  called  it),  fol- 
lowed by  the  entrance  of  God's  light-giving  word 
of  peace,  and  a  soul  opened  fully  to  the  Holy 
Spirit's  indwelling,  through  a  will  strengthened 
by  Divine  help,  results  in  the  assurance  of  faith  and 
transforms  the  whole  being. 

Throughout  his  life  Henry  Appenzeller  was  grate- 
ful to  the  Father,  after  whom  every  fatherhood  in 
Heaven  and  on  earth  is  named,  for  having  been 


The  Christian  Soldier's  Training      67 

brought  in  His  Providence  under  the  preaching 
of  the  evangelist  Mr.  Fulton,  who  was  holding 
special  services  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  West 
Chester.  The  date  of  his  conversion,  October  6, 
1876,  he  annually  celebrated  as  his  spiritual  birthday. 

Between  his  coming  to  school  at  West  Chester 
and  his  graduation  from  college  at  Lancaster  were 
included  several  events  and  experiences,  which 
tended  to  develop  the  lad  who  was  growing  in 
favour  with  God  and  man.  When  converted,  he 
started  a  prayer  meeting  in  the  school  which  con- 
tinued for  years,  and  out  of  which  grew  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  of  West  Chester.  Later 
he  taught  school  for  one  term  in  Delaware  Co., 
Perm.  At  Elizabethtown  in  Lancaster  county, 
during  his  college  course  he  was  also  engaged  in 
teaching,  in  order  to  secure  his  financial  maintenance 
until  graduation.  Furthermore,  by  teaching,  he 
learned  what  he  really  knew  and  what  he  did  not 
know,  thus  testing  his  powers. 

When  Harry  was  ready  for  higher  intellectual 
discipline,  he  entered,  according  to  his  father's 
wish,  Franklin  and  Marshall  College  of  the  Re- 
formed Church  in  Lancaster.  It  was  named,  after 
the  Yankee  domiciled  in  the  Quaker  City  and  the 
"Father  of  the  Supreme  Court,"  Franklin  and 
Marshall.  Matriculating  as  a  freshman  in  the 
autumn  of  1878,  he  was  graduated  in  the  class  of 
1882. 

With  Lancaster  are  associated  some  of  the  most 
inspiring  of  Colonial,  Revolutionary,  anti-slavery 
and  civil  war  memories  and  heroes.  Here  many 


68         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

a  council  with  the  Iroquois  Indians  had  been  held. 
Here  were  raised  the  German  regiments,  including 
the  Body  Guard  of  General  Washington,  and  here 
also  the  people  first  saluted  the  leader  of  the  Con- 
tinental armies,  by  the  title  so  familiar  to  them, 
"Father  of  his  Country."  In  this  region,  such 
leaders  as  Generals  Hand  and  Muhlenburg,  Colonels 
Hartley  and  Hubley,  and  Major  Burckhardt  arose 
to  lead  freedom's  hosts.  For  a  time  it  was  the 
national  capital,  for  the  Continental  Congress 
met  here  while  the  British  possessed  Philadelphia. 
Here,  or  near  by,  the  Hessian  mercenaries  employed 
by  the  German  king  of  Great  Britain,  George  III. 
captured  by  Washington  at  Trenton,  coming  among 
people  and  clergymen  of  their  own  tongue  and 
stock,  were  shown  and  convinced  of  the  badness  of 
the  cause  into  which  they  had  been  impressed  and 
the  meanness  of  the  work  in  which  they  had  been 
ignorantly  engaged.  Thousands  left  the  service 
they  learned  to  hate,  including  Fritz,  Washington's 
coachman,  and  Custer,  the  grandfather  of  our 
brilliant  cavalry  leader — "the  boy  general  with  the 
golden  locks."  Of  thirty  thousand  Hessians  who 
came  to  America,  only  seventeen  thousand  returned 
to  Germany.  Here  lived  and  were  buried  not  only 
James  Buchanan,  last  president  of  the  slave-hold- 
ing American  republic,  but  also  Thaddeus  Stephens. 
The  unquailing  enemy  of  human  servitude  and 
champion  of  the  rights  of  man,  lived,  laboured,  and 
died  in  Lancaster,  his  sepulchre  being  still  within 
the  city's  limits.  Conestoga  river,  near  by,  gave 
its  name  to  a  tribe  of  Indians,  deadly  enemies  of 


The  Christian  Soldier's  Training       69 

the  Mohawks  and  also  to  a  form  of  wagon  invented 
here,  which  possibly  a  million  of  hardy  emigrants 
to  the  Far  West  made  the  home  on  wheels  of  their 
wives  and  little  ones.  Thus  the  memory  of  the 
pioneers  was  an  ever  living  one  and  there  was 
no  lack  of  inspiring  patriotic  associations  in  Lan- 
caster and  A.  was  a  stalwart  American. 

With  the  college  are  associated  the  names  of  such 
epoch-making  teachers  as  Joseph  Berg,  John  W. 
Nevin  and  Philip  Schaff,  besides  such  educators 
as  the  Stahrs  and  Appels,  Atlee,  Gerhart,  Krebs 
and  others  of  local  fame.  Few  New  England 
historians  have  ever  told  the  story  of  the  educational 
work  and  influences  in  the  Middle  and  Western 
States,  of  the  Pennsylvania  Germans,  or  the  epic 
of  the  Germans  in  the  United  States.  This  work 
was  reserved  for  Professor  Faust,  of  Cornell  Uni- 
versity. 

Under  teachers  like  Dr.  Dubbs,  who,  knowing 
the  heroic  and  poetic,  as  well  as  homely  details 
of  the  Pennsylvania  pioneer  settlers  under  William 
Penn's  noble  charter  of  freedom,  and  their  varied 
life,  as  churches  and  individuals,  could  give  a 
tongue  to  every  acre  and  make  each  mound,  stream, 
and  rock  eloquent  with  stories  of  romance  and 
adventure,  Henry  Appenzeller  was  richly  nourished. 
Out  of  the  local  as  well  as  the  general  history  of 
achievement,  he  was  prepared  for  a  grand  work 
in  a  distant  land,  that  in  spiritual  splendour  should 
outshine  even  the  lustre  of  those  German  Pilgrims 
to  Pennsylvania,  who  with  William  Perm  crossed 
the  ocean  for  conscience'  sake.  Of  the  college 


70         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

faculty,  Dr.  John  Brainard  Kiefer,  holding  the 
chairs,  first  of  the  Ancient  Languages  and  then  of 
the  Greek  Language  and  Literature,  was  especially 
stimulant  to  the  mind  of  A. 

There  were  at  least  two  events  during  his  college 
career  which  as  Christian  and  student  affected 
favourably  his  future.  The  one  represented  grace 
and  the  other  grit.  The  first  coloured  his  whole 
after  life,  and  the  other,  which  for  a  few  days  made 
him  unpopular  with  a  few — though  afterward 
these  same  men  honoured  his  action — showed  him 
the  determined  foe  of  brutality  in  any  form. 

It  was  about  this  time,  in  1879,  tne  change  in 
his  church  life  was  made  that  was  pivotal  in  his 
career.  He  was  thrown  much  with  the  Methodists 
and,  when  in  Lancaster  again,  attended  various 
churches,  being  evidently  for  a  time,  as  his  diaries, 
and  especially  the  entry  of  April  5,  attest,  in  a 
state  of  mental  restlessness,  withal  spiritually 
dissatisfied  with  himself.  He  yearned  for  a  richer 
experience.  Besides  being  attracted  to  the  prayer 
and  class  meetings  of  the  First  Methodist  Church, 
he  studied  on  April  16,  the  minutes  of  the  Phil- 
adelphia Conference  and  deeply  impressed  wrote, 
"  I  rejoice  in  the  good  work  the  church  of  my  choice 
is  doing."  On  the  following  Sunday,  he  made  entry 
in  his  diary: 

"To-day  all  my  previous  thoughts  and  debates 
about  the  change  from  the  Reformed  to  the  Meth- 
odist church  were  ended,  when  I  was  taken  in  as  a 
full  member  in  the  Methodist  Church,  which  is 
the  one  of  my  choice.  .  .  .  This  step  is  taken  only 


The  Christian  Soldier's  Training      71 

after  prayer  and  meditation  for  some  time.  Since 
my  conversion  October  i,  1876,  I  have  been  among 
the  Methodists  most  of  the  time  and  feel  more  at 
home  than  I  did  in  the  Reformed  Church  and  I  feel 
it  to  be  my  duty  to  join  the  M.E.  Church  and  what 
I  did  to-day  I  did  with  an  eye  single  to  the  glory 
of  God." 

It  was  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  H.  C.  Smith 
in  the  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  in  Lan- 
caster, he  heartily  adopted  John  Wesley's  form  of 
life  as  a  follower  of  his  Saviour  and  was  admitted 
into  membership  April  20,  1879  He  ever  after- 
wards referred  in  grateful  memory  to  this  date. 
The  text  of  the  sermon  heard  at  this  initial  commun- 
ion with  his  Methodist  brethren,  so  singularly 
appropriate  and  stimulant,  remained  indelible  in 
memory.  It  was  this — "Grow  in  grace  and  the 
knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ." 
How  in  Korea  he  told  of  the  change  in  his  church 
home  and  his  reasons  therefore,  may  be  read,  on 
page  93,  of  that  most  fascinating  romance  of  mis- 
sionary life  in  Korea,  "The  Vanguard"  by  Dr. 
James  H.  Gale,  who  was  his  colleague  in  Bible 
translation.  In  this  story,  Appenzeller  is  depicted 
under  the  name  of  "Foster." 

"McKecheren  greatly  liked  Foster,  in  spite  of 
his  Arminianism.  The  more  he  saw,  the  more  he 
prized  him.  At  last  to  his  extreme  joy,  he  learned 
on  Foster's  own  statement  that  he  had  been  con- 
verted in  a  Presbyterian  Church,  (at  West  Chester, 
Pa.). 

"There  noo,"  said  McKecheren,  "I  kenned  there 


72         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

was  something  about  you;  there's  naething  in  the 
world  like  Calvinism  to  pit  fibre  intil  a  man's 
banes,  but  whit  way  did  ye  backslide  into  Method- 
ism?" 

"Well,"  said  Foster,  "I  felt  so  glad  and  happy 
that  I  just  had  to  shout  Hallelujah,  and  you  know 
they  never  would  tolerate  such  goings  on  in  the 
Presbyterian  church,  so  I  had  to  backslide  and  be 
a  shouting  Methodist." 

"I'm  thinkin'  there's  perhaps  a  place  in  God's 
economy  for  us  a'"  said  McKecheren.  "I'm  mair 
inclined  to  the  Methodists  than  I  used  to  be.  I 
did  na  like  them  yince;  we  had  nae  Methodists 
in  Scotland,  but  since  I've  been  on  the  Mission 
field  I've  learned  that  there  are  God's  people  amang 
the  Methodists  as  well  as  amang  the  Presbyterians, 
but  its  a  great  mystery." 

"Nothing  was  more  interesting  to  Foster  than 
the  peculiar  dry  Calvinist  that  he  found  in  Mc- 
Kecheren." 

Appenzeller,  like  many  another  chivalrous  student 
who  loves  fair  play,  hates  brutality  and  despises 
the  oppression  of  the  weak  by  the  strong,  could 
not  and  refused  to  understand  why  savagery,  after 
being  improved  off  the  face  of  the  earth  elsewhere, 
should  still  linger  in  the  American  college.  When 
hazing  at  Lancaster  was  carried  so  far  that  members 
of  the  tormented  lower  class  were  tied  to  trees, 
or  butted  against  posts,  Appenzeller  rebelled,  and 
became  insurgent  against  the  code  that  breeds  out- 
laws and  lynchers.  He  not  only  refused  to  con- 
form to  the  dictation  of  the  bully,  but  he  brought 


The  Christian  Soldier's  Training     73 

the  matter  to  the  faculty's  notice.  Of  the  same 
stuff  of  which  Caleb  and  Joshua  or  our  own  Nathan 
Hale  was  composed,  he  would  not  hesitate,  if  neces- 
sary, to  turn  "spy"  and  "informer"  at  the  call 
of  duty.  In  conscience,  he  attacked  what  was 
treachery  to  the  good  name  of  a  college.  In  one 
instance,  when  after  the  class  in  council  had  decided 
to  "slope"  and  cut  recitations  for  the  day,  A. 
protested  and  declared  he  would  attend  all  the 
recitations,  which  he  did.  Afterwards  those  who 
imagined  him  "Puritanical,"  admired  and  approved 
"Appie's  course." 

Bravo!  Majorities  may  be  tyrants  equal  to 
monarchs. 

The  Christian  life  to  Appenzeller  meant  instant 
and  continuous  service  for  Christ.  He  had  a  high- 
souled  disdain  for  merely  negative  goodness.  As 
he  read  his  New  Testament,  he  found  that  the 
emphasis  of  His  Master's  scorn  was  not  directed 
against  the  tempted,  the  outcast,  or  even  the 
"sinners,"  so  called,  so  much  as  it  was  with  light- 
ning-like directness  against  those  pious  do-nothings 
and  orthodox  drones  who  were  the  opposites  of  the 
Good  Samaritan 

In  A.'s  view,  knowledge  divorced  from  action  was 
as  disease  and  sin.  The  command  "Feed  my 
lambs"  was  as  real  in  his  ears  as  if  spoken,  to  his 
face,  in  A.D.  1879,  and  n°t.  it  may  be,  A.D.  33. 
Those  words  of  the  Son  of  Man,  blessed  and  awful, 
"Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  unto  me"  were  like 
Sinai's  positive  commands.  Intending  to  be  a 
preacher  and  a  shepherd  of  souls,  and  believing 


74         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

that  the  best  way  to  learn  to  deliver  the  gospel 
message  was  by  actual  practice,  he  began  preach- 
ing in  a  little  chapel  in  Lancaster.  This  "East 
Mission"  thrived  under  its  young  shepherd  and 
later  became  a  church  duly  organised,  and  in  the 
summer  of  1911,  its  neat  edifice  for  worship  was 
dedicated. 

Studying  the  preparation  and  delivery  of  a  ser- 
mon, as  including  both  science  and  art,  and  ever 
persevering,  Appenzeller  became  a  fluent,  forceful 
and  persuasive  preacher,  to  whom  throughout 
life  public  speaking  was  a  private  joy  and  a  public 
crown  of  success.  He  had  "the  wooing  note." 
He  was  a  son  of  consolation.  He  won  his  hearers. 
In  Korea,  his  own  countrymen  as  well  as  natives, 
"mercantiles"  as  well  as  "clericals,"  officials  in  the 
custom  house  and  men  of  the  legations,  loved  ever 
to  hear  him. 

Here,  then,  was  a  child  of  God  who  set  himself, 
in  the  obedience  of  love  to  answer  the  Heavenly 
Father's  challenge  to  prove  the  Divine  readiness 
to  bless.  Of  that  willingness  and  ability,  A.  was 
persuaded  after  earnest  study  of  the  Word. 


VI 

Korea  as  a  Topic — Lure  or  Chill 

|  jX)R  the  study  of  theology,  the  college  graduate, 
Ti  now  an  A.B.,  went  to  Drew  Seminary,  at 
Madison,  N.  ].,  a  place  twenty-five  miles 
distant  from  New  York  and  inhabited  chiefly  by 
men  doing  business  on  Manhattan.  The  town 
itself  was  named  after  that  suave,  fourth  President 
of  the  United  States,  "  Father  of  the  Constitution," 
who  gave  Dr.  Robert  Morrison,  the  English  apostle 
to  China,  a  warm  letter  of  introduction  that  opened 
British  hearts  and  paved  the  way  for  missionary 
success  at  a  difficult  time.  The  Seminary  edifice 
was  surrounded  by  a  park  of  ninety-five  acres, 
the  gift  of  the  capitalist  and  Methodist  layman, 
Daniel  Drew,  was  then  in  its  pristine  vigour,  with 
a  faculty  in  which  the  names  of  Drs.  James  Strong, 
G.  R.  Crooks,  S.  F.  Upham,  R.  L.  Cummock,  J. 
Wiley,  J.  P.  Silverman  and  the  still  living  professor, 
now  (1912)  president,  Henry  A.  Butz  were  magnetic. 
As  one  of  the  contributors  to  the  McClintock 
and  Strong's  Biblical  Encyclopedia  and  as  personal 
friend  of  both  editors,  the  biographer  finds  among 
his  papers  an  invitation  to  the  celebration  by  the 
Seminary,  in  1881,  of  the  completion  of  this  great 
work. 

75 


76         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

These  teachers  found  Appenzeller  an  appreciative 
and  diligent  student,  one  of  those  who  make  the 
joy  of  a  professor's  life.  He  excelled  in  Greek,  thus 
unconsciously  fitting  himself  to  render  the  New 
Testament  into  Korean.  Throughout  his  whole 
career  as  student,  in  college  and  seminary,  A.  had 
in  large  measure  to  support  himself.  At  Drew  he 
acted  as  private  secretary  to  Dr.  George  R.  Crooks. 
Often  given  work  of  research  to  do,  or  references  to 
verify,  the  professor  was  wont  to  say  that  anything 
looked  up  by  Appenzeller  could  be  depended  upon 
and  he  need  seek  no  farther.  As  long  as  we  are 
human,  there  will  be  certain  ones  among  our  teachers 
who  influence  us  most  profoundly  and  most  richly 
fertilise  our  minds.  Dr.  Butz  and  Dr.  Wiley  had  the 
strongest  attraction  for  "  Appie  " — the  personality 
of  the  men  more  even  than  their  subjects.  In  the 
class  prayer  meetings,  he  took  unflagging  interest, 
making  it  a  principle  to  be  always  present. 

Appenzeller  spent  his  Saturdays  in  pastoral 
activities  and  his  Sundays  in  preaching  and  teach- 
ing. In  connection  with  his  field  at  Montville, 
both  being  in  the  same  circuit,  he  laboured  at 
Taylortown,  in  the  mountain  district  of  New  Jersey, 
utilising  a  school  house  as  a  temple  of  worship. 
The  latter  field  was  lean  and  difficult  but  he  was 
none  the  less  faithful,  his  experiences  forming  a  rich 
treasure  in  memory.  In  his  senior  year  he  served 
the  church  at  Green  Village,  N.  J.,  very  near 
Madison.  This  was  jocularly  spoken  of  by  the 
students  as  the  "  Fifth  Avenue  of  Drew  Seminary 
appointments." 


Korea  as  a  Topic — Lure  or  Chill    77 

Happily  for  the  young  preacher,  he  was  as  ready 
to  hear  and  learn  as  to  speak  in  public  or  teach 
others.  Self  criticism  saved  him  from  donning 
that  militant  halo,  which  a  much  flattered  seminarian 
consciously  or  unconsciously  often  wears,  very  much 
as  a  proud  Indian  chief  puts  on  a  war  bonnet  for 
the  fight.  He  was  saved  also  from  that  frame  of 
mind  that  so  often  turns  the  missionary  freshly 
arrived  on  foreign  soil  into  a  hurtful  prig,  making 
him  among  the  best  hated  of  the  varied  characters 
in  a  treaty  port  and  marring  alike  his  reputation 
and  his  usefulness.  Because  the  holy  man's  wel- 
come is  not  as  emotionally  warm  as  in  the  atmos- 
phere, tearful  and  often  femininely  sympathetic, 
of  the  farewell  meeting  at  home,  the  young  apostle 
is  apt  to  show  the  temper  of  a  Pharisee,  often  with- 
out knowing  it. 

As  many  a  discreet  wife  cools  the  conceit  of  a 
budding  pulpiteer  even  while,  like  a  good  gardener, 
she  wields  the  pruning  hook  with  both  wisdom  and 
tender  sympathy,  so  at  Montville  the  young  pastor 
had  the  inestimable  blessing  of  both  a  Priscilla  and 
Aquila,  in  "Father  and  Mother  Hixon,"  who 
entertained  the  preachers.  By  wise  hints  and  the 
young  tbeologue's  own  frankly  sought  criticism, 
they  saved  him  from  mistakes  and  infelicities,  while 
often  pointing  out  the  right  line  of  advance. 

"Appie"  always  came  back  to  the  Seminary 
classes  on  Monday  morning,  with  a  song  in  his 
heart,  joyful  in  the  memories  and  soul  enlargement 
of  the  previous  day.  He  loved  dearly  his  work. 
Besides  being  gifted  with  a  fine  voice  and  pas- 


78         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

sionately  delighting  in  music,  he  was  fond  of  rous- 
ing hymns,  especially  those  with  a  historic  per- 
spective, like  that  beginning 

"Faith  of  our  fathers  living  still 

In  spite  of  dungeon,  fire,  and  sword," 

or  "Lord,  it  belongs  not  to  my  care,"  "Safely 
through  another  week,"  "If  through  unruffled 
seas,"  "Far  down  the  ages  now,"  "Oh,  where  are 
kings  and  empires  now,"  "The  Son  of  Man  goes 
forth  to  war,"  etc. 

Leaving  no  talent  buried,  he  played  the  melodeon, 
led  the  singing  and  served  gladly  as  factotum,  in- 
spiring others  to  diligence  also.  He  taught  and  lived 
the  Wesleyan  motto  (in  its  revised  version),  "  Sancti- 
fication,  justification,  and  [more  than]  a  penny  a 
week."  As  in  manifold  instances  elsewhere,  "a 
Methodist  and  a  hymn  book,"  in  New  Jersey,  had 
soon  raised  a  church  where  none  was  before. 

Besides  this  lively  zeal,  he  made  the  systematic 
and  orderly  oversight  of  souls  his  careful  study  and 
looked  well  to  the  finances  and  discipline.  Thus 
he  illustrated  handsomely  Heaven's  first  law. 
When  later,  his  chum  Wadsworth  followed  "Appie" 
at  Montville,  the  newcomer  found  nothing  at  loose 
ends, but  everything  in  good  order  and  well  organised. 
The  copy  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  presented  to  their 
pastor  by  the  young  people  of  Montville,  became 
Appenzeller's  study  Bible  and  constant  companion 
for  years.  It  was  afterwards  lost,  at  Kobe,  Japan. 

One  rich  gift  of  God  was  notably  appreciated. 
"Appie"  had  a  keen  sense  of  humour.  His  love 
of  fun  and  rapidity  of  catching  the  point  of  a  joke, 


Korea  as  a  Topic — Lure  or  Chill    79 

or  discerning  the  amusing  side  of  things,  made  many 
a  burden  light  by  keeping  himself  and  others  in 
good  spirits.  He  refused  to  let  irritating  people 
or  circumstances  spoil  his  temper.  He  was  a  true 
"son  of  oil"  in  keeping  things  lubricated  and 
running  easily  without  friction.  Indeed  he  often 
felt  that  this  capacity  for  enjoyment,  seeing,  and 
telling  about  things  humourous  was  one  of  the 
many  blessings  vouchsafed  him  by  his  Heavenly 
Father.  He  would  have  subscribed  to  Marion 
Harland's  recipe — "There  is  no  better  combina- 
tion than  a  sense  of  humour  and  a  little  religion." 
It  is  certain  that  this  gift  and  grace  of  God  enabled 
him  later  on  to  open  the  hearts  of  the  pagans.  The 
Koreans  love  jokes  and  enjoy  fun  even  at  their 
own  expense,  if  they  see  that  the  foreigner  loves 
them.  Many  a  man  in  Soul  was  first  attracted 
to  Appenzeller  because  of  the  sunny  American's 
wit  and  humour,  to  become  a  true  brother  and  loyal 
follower  of  the  same  Lord.  The  wayfaring  man 
might  come  to  scoff,  but  he  often  remained  to  pray. 
Long  before  being  able  to  preach  in  Korean,  A. 
was  able  to  tell  stories,  quote  proverbs  and  cause 
stolid  faces  to  blossom  with  smiles. 

"Appie,"  on  leaving  his  native  Keystone  State 
for  the  classic  region  of  mosquitoes,  certainly  felt 
the  comical  side  of  his  experiences  with  the  tiny 
pests  as  producers  of  insomnia,  even  while  he 
planned  to  circumvent  them. 

New  Jersey's  fame  as  a  breeder  and  nourisher 
of  these  musical  insects,  was  formerly  greater  than 
at  present,  probably  because  the  culex  were  not 


80         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

then  suspected  of  being  angels  of  pestilence.  Often 
questions  of  the  ethical  ends  in  creation,  the  moral 
uses  of  dark  things,  etc.,  were  debated,  but  no 
theologian,  amateur,  or  professional  was  able  to 
solve  the  problem,  "Why  was  the  mosquito 
created?" 

When  a  "man  of  science"  in  1873,  suggested  the 
existence  of  the  mosquito  as  Nature's  warning 
against  malaria  and  her  notice  to  man  either  to 
quit  or  to  drain  the  swamps,  one  English  editor 
(in  Japan)  made  merry  at  such  "delicious  teleol- 
ogy." They  continued  to  be  looked  upon  in  the 
light  of  being  only  as  the  harmless  jokers  of  crea- 
tion, with  activities  that  were  only  inconvenient. 

Since  their  reputation  as  common  carriers  of 
disease  has  been  established,  their  ultimate  doom 
of  extinction  in  civilised  countries  is  perhaps 
sealed.  In  Korea  "land  of  malaria  and  mosqui- 
toes," it  was  the  nightly  duty  of  A.  in  summer, 
as  a  thoughtful  father,  aided  by  the  mother,  not 
only  to  protect  both  children  and  parents  with 
netting,  but  to  gather  out  from  the  inside  the  younger 
and  tinier  pests  that  entered  through  the  meshes. 

The  industry  and  irritating  powers  of  these 
creatures,  whose  musical  activities,  with  "horns 
of  elfland  faintly  blowing,"  were  especially  madden- 
ing in  late  September  and  early  October,  or  until 
the  energies  of  Jack  Frost  were  fully  exerted,  made 
many  a  student  "flunk"  when  most  anxious  to 
win  success. 

On  one  occasion  "Appie"  felt  profoundly  the  need 
of  absolute  rest,  in  order  to  be  fully  prepared  and 


Korea  as  a  Topic — Lure  or  Chill    81 

in  the  highest  efficiency  for  a  special  service.  He 
was  to  face  his  class  and  professors  next  day,  as 
critics  of  his  "trial  sermon."  He  believed  in  the 
physical  as  well  as  the  spiritual  preparation  of  the 
preacher.  "Appie,"  as  yet  unarmed  by  bars  and 
gauze  against  the  foe,  begged  of  his  chum  Wads- 
worth,  the  loan  of  his  protective  netting.  The 
latter  cheerfully  found  such  immunity  as  was  pos- 
sible under  the  sheets,  while  the  "triumphant 
Pennsylvanian "  garnered  strength  for  the  next 
day's  ordeal.  His  discourse  was  from  the  text, 
"There  is  no  other  name  given  under  Heaven 
whereby  we  must  be  saved,  than  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ."  .It  was  well  written  and  finely 
delivered. 

How  he  came  to  be  a  missionary  is  a  clear  story 
of  gradual  conviction,  of  yielding  to  duty's  call  and 
of  full  consecration  to  it.  On  February  19,  1881, 
when  a  Junior  in  College,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
three,  he  heard  a  sermon  on  missions  and  contrib- 
uted $2.50,  wishing  that  he  could  give  more. 
Under  the  date  of  Sunday  February  26,  1881, 
he  wrote  in  his  diary,  "The  ambition  of  my  life 
is  to  spend  it  entirely  in  the  service  of  the  Lord." 

As  time  wore  on,  this  interest  in  the  foreign  field 
increased  and  in  the  Seminary  it  took  definite 
form.  He  thought  he  might  be  a  missionary  in 
Japan.  Two  books  which  he  and  his  chum  Wads- 
worth  possessed  and  read  with  interest  treated  of 
Japan  and  Korea.  The  note  of  the  one  was  the 
strength  of  solidarity — a  nation  open  to  the  world 
united  and  anchored  in  the  Mikado  and  Imperial 


82         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

House;    of  the  other,  the  hermitage  of  a  nation, 
resulting  in  the  weakness  of  a  recluse. 

Wadsworth  especially  was  filled  with  the  idea 
of  going  to  the  Hermit  Nation.  Commodore 
Shufeldt,  the  American  sailor-diplomat,  with  next 
to  nothing  of  naval  or  military  aid,  had  in  1882 
utterly  eclipsed  the  achievements  of  his  predeces- 
sor, Matthew  Perry  of  1853,  so  far  as  real  diplomacy 
was  concerned.  For  all  that  Perry,  with  his  mighty 
fleet  and  costly  armament,  obtained  from  Japan, 
was  the  opening  of  two  ports  to  sailors  in  distress. 
Shufeldt  actually  secured  not  only  these,  but  also 
the  opening  of  Korea  to  trade,  commerce  and 
residence,  thus  opening  the  way  for  teachers  and 
missionaries.  For  this  noble  work  he  received 
neither  honour  nor  recognition  at  Washington. 

When  the  seminary  students  dropped  in  "the 
big  front  room  in  Mead  Hall,"  to  chat  with  Wads- 
worth  and  Appenzeller,  the  talk  ran  promptly  on 
Korea.  At  least  one  man,  who  already  felt  that  he 
had  a  parish  in  the  Hermit  Nation,  was  full  of  the 
theme  and  enjoyed  practising  his  new  knowledge 
on  others,  hoping  to  draw  out  their  interest  and  even 
to  provoke  them  to  put  questions  to  him.  The 
results  were  as  varied  as  they  were  curious.  Not 
all  the  patients  exhibited  the  same  symptoms. 
What  was  tonic  to  one  was  as  an  icy  febrifuge  to 
another.  Some  took  the  new  medicine  as  a  sed- 
ative and  even  a  soporific.  A  few  stayed,  listened, 
asked  questions,  and  chatted  by  the  hour,  seeking 
more  light,  while  deepening  their  sympathies; 
but  such  stimulus  of  appetite  was  not  for  all.  At 


I  >i<  MM-:  GOING  TO  HER  Hi's  HAND'S  Hi  IMF.. 


Korea  as  a  Topic — Lure  or  Chill    83 

the  mention  of  Korea,  some  retreated,  even  before 
their  hands  had  left  the  doorknob,  without  entering. 
With  others,  extemporised  engagements  imme- 
diately followed  any  mention  of  such  mythical 
geography.  Projectiles,  elevators  and  escalators 
must  be  thought  of  to  get  the  true  idea  of  accelerated 
motion  at  the  name  of  such  an  unknown  country. 
In  1882  there  was  neither  stomach  for  a  debate  nor 
spiritual  craving  to  know  the  demands  of  such  a 
field.  Shame  upon  the  Christian  church  that  she 
lagged  so  far  behind  her  opportunity!  It  looked 
as  if  Shufeldt,  the  naval  officer  in  the  van  of  civili- 
sation, had  outstripped  in  zeal  the  professional 
heralds  of  the  gospel.  Nevertheless  a  few  of..the 
Drew  students  did  actually  look  up  the  place  on 
the  map.  With  mild  astonishment,  they  found 
that  our  new  treaty  Power  was  not  in  Africa,  or 
the  Mediterranean  Sea,  or  at  the  poles.  This  was 
at  least  hopeful.  To-day  the  conscience  of  the 
church  should  awake  to  the  loss  of  two  precious 
years.  "The  children  of  this  world,"  etc. 

Here,  as  in  a  footnote,  the  writer,  then  in  cor- 
respondence with  Japanese  in  Korea  and  Peking, 
would  recall  as  if  from  oblivion  his  efforts  which 
God  allowed  him  to  make  during  the  cryptic  years, 
from  1874  to  1882,  to  get  Congressional  committees 
interested  in  the  mitter  of  opening  Korea  to  Amer- 
ican trade  and  residence,  and  by  writing  letters, 
and  editorials,  and  furnishing  facts  and  statistics. 
This  was  done  more  fully  when  Senator  Sargent  of 
California  offered  a  resolution  in  the  Senate  to 
appoint  a  commission  to  negotiate  a  treaty  with 


84         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

Korea,  for  which  $50,000  were  to  be  appropriated. 
In  the  same  year  the  author  began  writing  for  the 
Independent,  The  Sunday  Magazine  and  other 
periodicals  on  Korea.  For  years,  he  furnished  an 
article  for  Appleton's  Annual  Cyclopedia  about 
the  country  and  people,  though  often  warned  by  the 
editor  "not  to  devote  too  much  space  to  these 
picturesque  barbarians."  Meanwhile  famine  raged 
in  Korea  and  the  fields  were  white  with  human 
skeletons,  parts  of  which  were  frequently  found 
in  the  invoices  of  ox-bones  exported  to  Japan. 
Less  gruesome  and  more  hopeful  was  the  item  of 
two  Korean  girls,  in  the  American  Mission  Home 
at  Yokohama,  sent  from  Vladivostok  by  their 
Russian  father. 

After  Wadsworth  had  decided  to  go  and  had 
actually  offered  himself  and  been  accepted  for  the 
newly  opened  field,  he  was  compelled,  because  of 
overwhelming  private  reasons,  to  decline.  Prov- 
idence had  decided  that  he  was  to  stay  home.  Who 
then  should  take  his  place?  Would  Appenzeller 
turn  his  gaze  from  the  archipelago  to  the  peninsula? 


VII 
The  Great  Decision 

ON  October  226.,  after  a  prayer  meeting, 
"Appie,"  with  unusual  seriousness,  asked 
Wadsworth  again  concerning  his  chum's 
call  to  the  mission  field,  for  he  himself  had  been 
thinking  strongly  of  going  to  Japan,  feeling  that 
God  had  honoured  him  by  calling  him  to  this 
field.  Having  fully  decided  this  question  with 
God,  he  at  once  wrote  a  long  letter  to  the  lady  whom 
he  had  chosen  as  his  partner  in  life,  Miss  Ella  Dodge, 
who  had  come  from  her  native  place,  Berlin, 
Rensselaer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  to  Lancaster,  in  April,  1879. 
Those  who  know  of  the  life  and  work  of  the  great 
merchants  of  this  name  in  New  York  City,  of 
William  Earl  Dodge,  the  tireless  philanthropist 
and  friend  of  Verbeck  of  Japan,  need  not  be  told 
of  the  great  value  to  the  nation  and  to  Christian 
America  of  this  family  stock.  The  Americans 
named  Dodge  are  almost  all  the  descendants  of  the 
Puritan,  William  Dodge,  who  came  over  from  Ches- 
ter, England,  to  Salem,  Mass.,  in  the  fleet,  in  1629. 
Of  this  stock,  Miss  Ella  Dodge  was  by  no  means  the 
least  scion.  Not  only  as  a  betrothed  maiden, 
ready  to  follow  her  lover,  as  his  wife  and  help- 
meet to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  but  as  a  Christian 

85 


86         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

woman,  who  daily  prayed  "Thy  kingdom  come," 
and  waited  and  worked  for  its  coming,  she  gladly 
hailed  the  idea  of  leaving  home  and  friends  for 
Christ's  sake  to  cross  the  sea.  And  this,  though 
as  she  modestly  told  the  writer,  she  had  "never, 
except  for  education,  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  been  away 
from  the  chimney  corner,  until  twenty  years  old." 
Until  uniting  with  the  First  Methodist  church  in 
Lancaster,  she  had  been  reared  as  a  Baptist. 

The  Inter-Seminary  Alliance  was  called  to  meet 
at  Hartford,  Conn.,  in  1883,  from  October  24th 
to  the  a8th.  The  inspiring  speakers  on  this  occa- 
sion were  A.  F.  Behrends,  Richard  Newton,  A.  A. 
Hodge,  L.  T.  Townsend  and  A.  J.  Gordon,  ,all 
famous  men  in  their  day  and  representing  as  many 
denominations.  Mr.  Horace  Underwood,  prom- 
inent and  active  in  the  convention,  had  been 
educated  in  the  Seminary  of  the  Reformed  Church 
in  America,  which  sent  Verbeck,  Brown,  Ballagh, 
Wyckoff,  Stout,  Booth,  Peeke,  Miss  Kidder  and 
others  to  Japan,  but  the  Reformed  Church,  already 
grandly  supporting  missions  in  India,  China  and 
Japan,  was  not  able  to  expand  into  Korea.  So, 
under  the  Presbyterian  church  North,  Underwood 
went  to  Korea  to  become  the  pioneer  scholar, 
lexicographer,  translator,  veteran  missionary  and 
the  unswerving  friend  and  comrade  of  Appenzeller, 
the  two  men  ever  seeing  eye  to  eye.  Drew  Seminary 
was  represented  at  Hartford  by  five  men. 

To  New  England  "Appie"  went,  riding  on  the 
train  with  250  theologues,  and  at  Yale  met  the 
Lancaster  delegation.  Appenzeller  was  No.  345 


The  Great  Decision  87 

in  the  convention,  and  he  and  three  other  students 
were  entertained  at  the  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
R.  R.  Latimer,  who  were  enthusiastic  Methodists. 
"Appie"  while  there,  preached  in  the  M.  E.  church, 
and  carried  away  happy  memories  of  Hartford. 
He  came  back  more  than  ever  determined,  by 
God's  grace,  "to  be  Wadsworth's  substitute"  and 
go  to  Korea. 

Shortly  afterward,  December  31,  1883,  he  cele- 
brated with  others,  the  four  hundredth  anniversary 
of  Luther's  birth  and  wrote  gratefully  of  a  year 
of  prosperity.  Doubtless  also  he  attended  the 
"watch  meeting,"  according  to  Methodist  custom, 
which  he  later  introduced  in  Korea — the  meetings 
being  alternately  at  the  Underwoods  and  the 
Appenzellers.  The  New  Year  was  begun  by  singing 
the  hymn  beginning 

"Come,  let  us  anew 
Our  journey  pursue, 
Roll  round  with  the  year. 
And  never  stand  still 
Till  the  Master  appear." 

"Appie"  was  a  minute  man  at  his  Master's  call. 

His  marriage  was  set  for  December  17,  1884,  and 
took  place  in  Lancaster,  in  the  First  Methodist 
Church.  Then  followed  a  visit  to  the  old  homestead 
in  Souderton.  It  was  during  Christmas  week,  in 
his  father's  home,  that  the  field  of  Korea  was 
definitely  offered  him,  and  its  urgency  pointed 
out.  Appenzeller,  considering  "the  call  of  the 
church  was  the  call  of  God"  accepted,  though  the 
time  for  leaving  home,  for  farewells  and  all  prepara- 


88         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

tions  was  to  be  but  one  month.  Yet  this  was  not 
the  disciple  going  "to  bury  his  father,"  before 
taking  up  the  cross  to  follow  his  Master,  whither- 
soever he  might  call.  It  was  rather  the  relatives 
and  neighbours  who  conducted  the  imaginary 
funeral.  The  missionary  elect  preached  in  the 
Souderton  Reformed  Church,  the  historic,  blood- 
bought  and  martyr-honoured  church  of  his  fathers, 
in  which  both  the  names  of  Gerhart  and  Appen- 
zeller  were  prominent,  and  into  the  edifice  old 
friends,  farmer  folk,  villagers  and  young  people 
crowded  to  hear.  All  admired  the  handsome  and 
stalwart  young  minister.  The  Reformed  Church 
in  the  United  States  had  not  then  awakened  so 
fully  as  it  has  so  nobly  since,  to  the  Macedonian 
call,  though  its  splendid  station  at  Sendai,  Japan, 
was  then  five  years  old.  Unable  to  peer  into  the 
future,  mother,  father,  and  relatives  wondered  that 
a  man,  with  such  brilliant  talents  and  flattering 
prospects  at  home,  should  go  out  among  barbarians, 
to  "bury  himself."  Family  pride  was  strong. 
Though  the  mother  spoke  little  English,  the  eyes 
of  love  betrayed  her  heart's  exultation. 

"Appie's"  chum,  there  present,  could  read  the 
mingled  pride  and  sorrow  that  overflowed  in  her 
heart,  voice  and  eyes.  No  spoken  compliments 
could  be  the  fitting  equivalent  for  the  motherly 
delight  she  felt  in  her  elect  son,  the  scholar.  Never- 
theless, neither  she,  nor  her  husband,  the  stronger 
character — a  fine  large  man  of  commanding  presence 
and  superb  physical  frame — almost  the  exact 
counterpart  of  his  contemporary,  Emil  Frey, 


The  Great  Decision  89 

President  of  the  Swiss  Confederation — could  see 
any  beauty  to  be  desired  in  Korea.  Having  full 
confidence  in  his  son,  the  elder  Appenzeller,  frankly 
grieving  at  his  decision  to  work  in  the  foreign  field, 
became  later  reconciled  to  the  idea,  though  there 
were  some  that  thought  "Appie"  was  throwing 
himself  away.  What  lay  with  heavy  weight  on 
the  home-keeping  mother's  heart  was  her  fear  that 
Henry  would  be  drowned.  For  years,  even  to 
her  death,  this  fear  haunted  her  and  she  saw  often 
in  vision  what,  after  her  own  decease,  actually 
occurred. 

Perhaps  the  Souderton  folk  were  no  different 
from  myriads  of  others.  Nevertheless  the  abound- 
ing prosperity  of  the  Pennsylvania  Germans  has 
not  always  ministered  to  their  spirituality.  Indeed 
too  many  of  them  have  made  the  great  material 
blessings  granted  them  a  hindrance  to  the  education 
and  intellectual  advancement  of  their  own  children. 
Their  ancestors,  arriving  poor  and  wretched, 
fleeing  from  the  horrors  of  the  Thirty  Years  War 
and  desolation  for  bigotry's  sake,  of  the  Palatinate, 
by  the  minions  of  Louis  XIV.,  were,  when  first  in 
America,  as  "a  Syrian  ready  to  perish."  In  Wil- 
liam Penn's  "Holy  Experiment"  and  the  good  land 
of  promise,  these  people  have  made  Lancaster  county 
lead  all  others  in  the  United  States  in  agricultural 
wealth.  Yet  in  Pennsylvania,  no  more  than  on 
Manhattan,  does  prosperity  necessarily  beget  grace. 

When  the  time  came  for  leaving  Drew  Seminary 
for  Korea,  Appenzeller's  teachers  and  his  fellow 
students  held  an  unusually  inpressive  service,  on 


90         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

January  14,  1885,  with  an  address  by  Mr.  J.  H. 
Knowles  of  Madison.  Nearly  the  whole  household 
of  the  seminary  accompanied  their  comrade  to 
the  railway  station,  the  students  singing  as  they 
marched.  As  the  train  waited,  the  hymns  "Blest 
be  the  tie  that  binds"  and  "Shall  we  gather  at  the 
river?"  rolled  out  from  the  throats  of  young  men, 
who  felt  that  "  Appie"  was  to  be  their  representative 
as  Christ's  envoy  in  the  new  land  afar.  Nothing 
but  death  can  erase  the  picture  of  that  day  of 
crisis  and  joy. 

Already  on  the  night  of  December  4,  1884,  while 
in  New  York,  Bishop  Fowler  was  ordaining  Dr. 
Scranton,  the  Korean  capital  was  being  made  the 
scene  of  riot,  incendiarism  and  battle,  with  the 
slaughter  of  armed  men  and  the  massacre  of  peace- 
ful Japanese,  whose  bodies  were  left  unburied  to  be 
devoured  by  the  dogs. 

The  train  sped  across  the  country  and  on  Feb- 
ruary 2d,  hi  San  Francisco,  Henry  G.  Appenzeller 
was  ordained  by  Bishop  Fowler,  an  elder  in  the 
ministry  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to 
go  to  a  country  of  alarms  and  a  city  still  hot  with 
the  ashes  of  war-fires.  The  new  missionary  wished 
to  join  the  Philadelphia  Conference,  but  by  mis- 
take the  official  report  of  the  ordination  was  sent 
to  the  Newark  Conference,  to  which  thereafter, 
until  March,  1886,  he  was  nominally  attached. 

All  was  now  ready  for  the  "voyage  out  into  the 
mysteries  of  God's  yet  unmanifested  purposes." 

The  cable  that  ever  held  A.'s  ship  of  faith  from 
drifting,  making  it  ride  serenely  in  all  storms,  was 


The  Great  Decision  91 

woven  of  three  mighty  strands  of  promise.  They 
were  these  • 

"Prove  me  now,  herewith,  saith  Jehovah  of 
hosts,  if  I  will  not  open  the  windows  of  heaven  and 
pour  you  out  a  blessing,  that  there  shall  not  be 
room  enough  to  receive  it." 

And  this  from  the  Christ:   "Ye  are  my  friends." 

And  this  from  the  apostle  to  the  nations:  "We 
are  co-workers  with  God." 

So,  waxing  stronger  with  every  exercise  of  faith, 
Appenzeller  joined  that  noble  band,  "the  remnant," 
or  the  "elect,"  who  believe  that  "one  with  God  is  a 
majority"  and  that  "the  Creator  of  the  ends  of 
the  earth"  makes  no  mistakes,  never  gives  vain 
promises  and  "never  takes  too  big  a  contract" 
to  bless,  "Being  fully  assured  that  what  He  had 
promised  He  was  able  also  to  perform."  To  A., 
God  not  only  was,  but  is.  He  went  ahead  in  the 
radiant  joy  of  faith.  Not  with  any  the  less  reverence 
for  the  original  apostles,  but  with  a  trust  in  Omnip- 
otence equal  to  theirs,  he  set  his  hand  to  the  plough 
and  his  face  to  the  work.  In  his  view,  no  age  or 
time  or  place  can  weaken  these  promises  of  God. 
The  apostles  of  one  century,  and  all  of  them,  even 
the  latest,  "can  do  all  things  through  Christ." 


VIII 
Voyages  and  First  Impressions 

ON  board  the  Pacific  Mail  steamship  Arabic, 
February  i,  1885,  the  three  pioneers,  two 
of  them  with  their  wives,  Dr.  W.  B.  Scran- 
ton  and  H.  G.  Appenzeller,  began  their  voyage  to 
Korea.  Nineteen  years'later,  in  1904,  Dr.  Scranton 
wrote  his  impressions  of  his  colleague,  as  he  looked 
in  1885. 

"He  (Appenzeller)  was  a  striking  man,  who  would 
attract  attention  in  any  company.  Well  formed, 
he  carried  his  head  high  and  thrown  back,  making 
every  inch  of  his  goodly  stature  tell.  He  weighed 
from  1 80  to  200  pounds,  I  should  think.  He  was 
well  rounded  out,  even  in  his  face,  his  hair  was 
curly  and  abundant  and  withal  he  had  a  ruddy 
countenance  which  showed  him  to  be  a  man  in 
perfect  health.  His  face  was  smiling,  his  laugh 
hearty  and  his  greeting  always  cordial  and  magnetic." 

"He  was  our  superintendent  and  leader.  On  a 
Sunday,  February  isth,  out  on  the  Pacific  Ocean 
"when  the  sea  was  unusually  boisterous,  he  preached 
so  our  little  company.  .  .  .  His  text  was  of  that 
catisfying  and  positive  character,  which  he  ever 
those  and  which  every  minister  would  do  well 
to  imitate — a  positive  and  comforting  promise  or 

92 


Voyages  and  First  Impressions      93 

rock-founded  principle  of  holy  faith.  This  day 
he  led  us  out  from  the  Word,  from  Exodus  17:6. 
"Behold  I  will  stand  before  thee  upon  the  rock  in 
Horeb;  and  thou  shalt  smite  the  rock  and  there 
shall  come  water  out  of  it,  that  the  people  may 
drink." 

After  a  prolonged  and  tempestuous  voyage,  on 
the  evening  of  February  27th,  too  late  to  get  into 
the  harbour,  the  Arabic  arrived  in  Japanese  waters. 
Then  Appenzeller,  says  a  fellow-passenger,  "invited 
us  all  into  his  stateroom  before  we  landed  and  there 
led  us  in  thanksgiving  to  God  for  our  safe  journey 
and  in  petition  for  guidance  and  future  direction." 
The  next  morning,  after  twenty-four  days  of  the 
vista  of  blue  water,  husband  and  wife  caught  sight 
of  Japan's  snowy  pinnacle,  Fuji  Yama. 

On  their  first  view  of  the  real  native  of  Nippon, 
on  February  27th,  in  contrast  to  the  elegantly 
dressed  gentlemen,  subjects  of  the  Mikado,  whom  he 
had  met  in  America,  A.  could  hardly  believe  his 
senses.  Were  these  hard  working  creatures,  nude 
as  to  legs  and  arms  and  with  bare  heads,  of  the  same 
nationality?  They  toiled  gaily,  "with  the  snow 
pelting  down  on  them,  while  the  steamer  passengers 
in  their  winter  wraps  nearly  froze."  Verily  the 
Japanese  peasant,  like  the  Korean,  is  hardy  and 
healthy.  The  "simple  life' '  does  not  need  the  drugs 
and  luxuries  of  civilisation. 

Met  by  Mr.  (now  Bishop)  Harris  and  Mr.  D.  S. 
Spencer,  A.'s  fellow-student  at  Drew,  they  were 
sculled  ashore  in  a  sampan  and  rested  their  sea- 
weary  feet  of  the  often-shaken  soil  of  Everlasting, 


94         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

Great  Japan.  One  week  was  spent  as  the  guests 
of  the  Spencers  and  another  at  the  Davidson's 
and  a  trip  was  made  to  Tokyo. 

The  American  away  from  home  found  this  a  land 
of  fascinating  contrast.  In  a  word,  the  country 
was  like  all  others  inhabited  by  human  beings, 
themselves  composite  and  uncertain.  The  view- 
point, rather  than  the  geography,  or  the  ethnic 
stock,  furnished  the  novelty.  Here  was  the  old  and 
the  new.  The  horrible  and  disgusting  lay  cheek 
by  jowl  with  the  delightful  and  lovely.  Like  the 
oriental  stranger,  Korean  or  Nipponese,  in  great 
New  York,  or  London,  the  alien  visitor,  sees, 
smells,  hears,  and  remembers  longest,  among  his 
first  impressions,  that  which  the  patriotic  native 
would  fain  conceal  from  view. 

From  Yokohama  to  Nagasaki,  the  voyage  was 
quickly  made.  Despite  the  dreariness  of  winter, 
the  Inland  Sea  lacked  few  of  its  beauties.  They 
were  met  on  shipboard  and  welcomed  in  their  homes 
by  Messrs.  Long  and  Kitchen,  Methodist  mis- 
sionaries on  the  ground. 

The  winsome  humanity  of  this  "Paradise  of 
children"  appealed  powerfully  to  A.,  as  he  saw 
"the  streets  of  the  city  full  of  boys  and  girls  play- 
ing therein."  Writing  home  about  this  time  to 
bereaved  parents,  he  draws  for  them,  in  a  beautiful 
passage,  a  lesson  of  comfort,  blending  the  scene 
in  Japan  with  the  tender  utterance  of  the  prophet 
(Zechariah  viii  5).  "You  have  a  city,"  he  wrote, 
and  "your  children  are  playing  therein." 

Not  then  were  the  days  of  Japan's  public  hygiene. 


Voyages  and  First  Impressions      95 

now  so  famous,  nor  were  the  people  particular  as 
to  the  chemical  composition,  or  the  interior  popula- 
tion of  the  water  they  drank.  This  being  ever 
his  chief  beverage,  the  Pennsylvanian  was  somewhat 
intense  on  the  subject  of  quality,  while  abhorring 
the  idea  of  a  census  revealable  by  the  microscope. 
He  longed  for  a  drink  from  the  old  home  spring, 
in  Montgomery  County,  to  him,  "the  best  in  the 
world ' ' — of  course. 

There  was  no  pulpit  open  to  him  in  Nagasaki 
and  his  silver  must  for  the  nonce  become  golden. 
"L  have  had  hard  times  in  preaching,"  he  wrote, 
"but  it  is  harder  to  have  one's  lips  sealed."  Pa- 
tience and  grace  are  prime  requisites  for  a  missionary 
here  in  the  East.  He  heard  tough  stories  of  the 
lives  of  foreigners  in  the  seaports — the  menageries 
of  civilisation — but  nevertheless  he  believed  in 
Christianity  and  the  republic.  "We  must  blush 
for  what  bad  Americans  do,"  he  wrote,  "but  never 
for  being  Americans." 

After  a  day  or  two  in  Nagasaki,  and  at  the -first 
opportunity,  which  occurred  on  March  3ist,  on 
one  of  the  little  steamers  of  the  Mitsu  Bishi,  or 
Three  Diamonds  Line,  the  Appenzellers  again  set 
their  faces  westward  for  Korea.  Among  their 
fellow  passengers  were  Messrs.  Underwood,  Scudder 
and  Taylor,  Herr.  von  Mollendorf,  adviser  to  the 
king  of  Korea  and  members  of  the  Korean  em- 
bassy, which  had  been  sent  from  Soul  to  make 
apology,  in  Tokyo,  for  the  murderous  riots  of 
the  previous  December.  At  the  dinner  table,  one 
famous  dignitary,  expansive  and  affluent  in  big 


96         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

black  hat  and  white  garb,  sat  opposite  to  Appen- 
zeller.  As  if  to  improve  an  opportunity  of  a  bill 
of  fare  not  too  often  seen  in  his  own  land, 
the  Korean  partook  generously  of  everything, 
in  course,  "from  ox-tail  soup  to  toothpicks."  In 
less  than  an  hour  afterwards,  there  were  sounds  of 
grief  de  profundis.  All  other  refreshments  during 
the  remainder  of  the  voyage  were  taken  by  the 
dignitary  in  his  stateroom. 

Eager  to  enjoy  the  impressions  he  should  receive 
at  landfall,  Appenzeller  was  on  deck  early  on  the 
morning  of  April  ad,  when  near  Fusan,  to  catch 
glimpses  of  the  coast.  The  game,  however,  seemed 
to  suggest  hide  and  seek,  or  April  fool's  day.  Here 
and  there,  mud-coloured  houses  emerged  into  view 
suggesting  to  him  the  beehives  on  his  father's  farm, 
rather  than  dwellings.  The  thatched  roofs  were 
netted  with  rice  straw  rope  to  hold  them  down. 
Occasionally  what  seemed  to  be  a  bed  of  over- 
grown mushrooms  rose  into  view,  but  the  Penn- 
sylvanian  found  it  hard  to  discover  villages  that 
answered  to  his  ideas.  Was  it  for  protective 
mimicry  that  human  habitations  were  made  to  look 
like  the  soil?  For  centuries,  the  policy,  excogitated 
in  Soul,  and  rapidly  enforced  along  the  coasts, 
was  to  desolate  the  shores  of  Korea,  making  the 
land  to  appear  as  forbidding  as  possible  to  out- 
siders. From  a  ship's  deck  off  the  east  coast, 
everything  looks  shaggy  and  unkempt,  bare, 
wrinkled,  and  scraped,  even  to  poverty  itself. 
The  western  side  offers  some  improvement,  but 
the  danger  of  shipwreck  is  increased  by  the  numerous 


Voyages  and  First  Impressions      97 

islands.  Not  until  the  interior  is  well  entered  and 
the  "fat  valleys"  become  visible  does  one  see  much 
beauty  in  the  Korean  landscape. 

Yet  even  in  the  town  of  Fusan,  the  tenderfoot 
American  with  modest  expectations  was  not  dis- 
appointed. He  found  the  public  roads  to  be  paths 
only  wide  enough  for  two  persons.  Numbers  of 
robust  men  loafed  around,  doing  nothing,  while 
the  women,  with  faces  apparently  stamped  with 
the  national  policy  of  repulsiveness,  seemed  to  do 
all  the  work,  especially  in  washing  for  their  lazy 
lords.  They  turned  away  their  unlovely  visages, 
as  the  foreigner  approached.  The  best  answer  of 
what  Confucianism  has  done  for  Korea  is  the 
Korean  woman's  face.  Sodden,  sullen,  forbidding, 
it  tells  a  story  of  cruelty  and  woe.  Ages  of  oppres- 
sion are  stamped  on  it. 

There  were  signs  of  poverty  and  misery  every- 
where. "In  times  of  famine,  single  men,  not  having 
wives  to  support  them,  perish  in  great  numbers" 
he  heard  and  wrote.  There  were  not  wives  enough 
to  go  round  in  the  land  where  the  girl  babies  hardly 
have  a  chance  to  live.  Only  the  male  children  are 
carefully  nursed  in  a  deadly  sickness,  and  the  first 
census  taken  by  the  Japanese  in  1910  shows  a 
shortage  of  women. 

At  3  P.M.,  having  had  enough  for  one  day  of 
the  newly  seen  land  of  his  hopes,  A.  got  into  a 
sampan — a  wooden,  nailless  boat  almost  innocent 
of  iron,  its  name  meaning  literally  "three  boards" — 
to  be  sculled  back  to  the  ship.  At  the  jetty  the 
"heathen,"  apparently  a  hundred  of  them,  "raged" 


98         A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

over  getting  the  job  of  carrying  his  little  bit  of 
baggage. 

Next  day,  in  rainy  weather,  with  plenty  of  sea- 
sickness on  board,  the  steamer  left  to  round  the 
southern  end  of  the  peninsula.  Thence  through 
the  foggy,  island-studded  gulf,  on  April  5th  they 
reached  Chemulpo,  the  seaport,  about  thirty  miles 
distant  from  Soul  the  capital.  Like  Mary  Chil- 
ton,  on  the  Plymouth  boulder  in  1620,  Mrs.  Appen- 
zeller  was  the  first  to  step  on  the  Korean  rocks. 
It  was  Easter  Sunday.  "May  he  who  this  day 
burst  the  bars  of  the  tomb  bring  light  and  liberty 
to  Korea,"  was  Appenzeller's  prayer.  In  a  Japan- 
ese hotel,  served  with  European  food  and  warmly 
welcomed  and  encouraged  by  the  Japanese  consul, 
Mr.  Kobayashi,  who  at  once  offered  to  procure  for 
the  American  a  house,  they  felt  a  happiness  unex- 
pected. One  "good  square  meal"  was  enjoyed 
on  board  the  U.  S.  S.  S.  Ossipee,  their  host  being 
Captain  McGlenzie. 

Nevertheless  Korea  was  not  as  yet  their  land 
of  rest.  The  volcano  crust  of  war  had  not  yet 
hardened.  The  air  was  full  of  rumours.  Soul, 
their  field,  was  still  turbulent  and  full  of  wounded 
men.  The  busiest  man  in  the  realm,  Dr.  Horace 
N.  Allen,  the  missionary  physician,  was  mending 
the  bones  and  healing  the  bullet-pierced  tissues  of 
the  men  of  three  nations.  To  take  civilised  women 
there,  under  such  circumstances,  was  out  of  the 
question.  It  seemed  not  wise  to  be  in  haste.  Their 
strength  lay  rather  in  waiting.  After  a  council, 
the  resolve  was  made  to  return  to  Japan.  On 


Voyages  and  First  Impressions      99 

April  10,  1885,  Appenzeller  thanked  Kobayashi 
for  his  kindness,  and  in  a  letter  to  America  on  the 
1 8th,  he  states  that  he  expected  that  his  home  would 
probably  be  in  Japan  for  a  year,  adding  that  "The 
physician  must  precede  the  evangelist  missionary 
in  Korea."  During  his  second  stay  at  Nagaski 
he  made  a  trip  in  a  jinrikisha  to  Kumanoto  and 
through  Higo.  The  swift  river,  the  Kumagawa, 
had  then  no  associations  in  his  own  mind  or  that  of 
the  companion  who  was  to  survive  him. 

Not  long,  however,  did  this  eager  missionary 
abide  on  the  shores  of  the  Mikado's  Empire.  The 
Korean  horizon  was  soon  cleared  of  clouds,  and 
its  stormy  mien  gave  place  to  rosy  quiet.  Then 
the  country,  once  more  worthy  of  its  name,  seemed 
to  invite  the  passionate  pilgrims  to  return  to  Morn- 
ing Calm.  Dr.  Scranton  was  in  Soul  by  May  ist, 
and  at  medical  work,  and  Mr.  Underwood  who  had 
arrived  on  April  5th,  was  the  first  clerical  missionary 
resident  on  the  soil. 

On  the  1 6th  of  June,  with  their  fellow  passengers 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Heron  and  Dr.  Scranton's  mother, 
wife  and  baby,  and  on  the  same  steamer  as  before, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Appenzeller  left  Japan  to  cross  the 
seas  again.  Since  the  ancient  days,  when  Chinese 
sea-faring  poets  first  penned  stanzas,  these  waters 
are  celebrated  as  stormy.  Living  up  to  the  ancient 
reputation,  the  waves  rose  and  the  ship  rocked  in 
a  way  to  create  disturbance  of  both  mind  and  body. 
In  the  over  crowded  little  steamer,  the  only  ones 
not  seasick  were  Appenzeller  and  the  Scranton 
baby. 


100       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

In  place  of  the  seven  million  dollar  harbor  works, 
which  the  Japanese  are  now  building  at  Chemulpo, 
which  will  enable  a  steamer  to  land  passengers  and 
discharge  cargo  at  the  wharves,  there  was  in  1885 
only  a  vast  stretch  of  mud  flats  at  low  tide.  It  was 
odd  to  see  great  ocean-going  junks  squat  in  the 
mud  and  roll,  much  more  than  "half  seas"  over, 
and  stay  in  that  undignified  position  until  the  furi- 
ous tide  rushed  in  again.  At  other  times  boats, 
or  men  who  made  saddles  of  their  loins,  brought 
the  voyagers  from  deck  to  shore.  There  was  no 
railway  yet,  or  for  fourteen  years  to  come. 

At  Chemulpo,  the  Appenzellers  remained  until, 
in  July,  the  mission  premises  should  be  ready  in 
the  capital.  Meanwhile  at  the  port  they  abode 
in  the  semblance  of  a  house.  It  was  made  of 
packing  boxes  from  the  stores,  and  thus  furnished 
literature  as  well  as  alleged  shelter.  Mrs.  Mis- 
sionary could  read  business  addresses,  exhortations 
to  "keep  dry,"  "use  no  hooks,"  etc.,  besides  various 
mercantile  monograms  and  ciphers  on  her  walls. 
It  being  the  rainy  season  and  the  roof  resembling 
a  sieve,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  anything 
but  the  bed  could  be  kept  dry.  At  last  they  left 
for  Soul,  the  man  on  horseback  and  the  lady  in  a 
palanquin  borne  on  men's  shoulders.  For  the 
chair-bearers,  the  way  was  beguiled  with  stories 
told  on  the  run,  by  a  reciter,  who  kept  his  breath, 
as  he  enunciated  the  old  jokes  and  narratives. 
Korea  is  the  land  of  legend  and  nearly  all  labour 
done  by  men  in  gangs  is  social  and  made  cheery 
with  song  or  story.  Happily  they  arrived  before 


Voyages  and  First  Impressions    101 

sunset,  after  which  the  gates  would  be  shut.  In 
the  city  they  found  welcome  from  Dr.  Scranton 
and  a  temporary  home  at  the  Allen's.  Like  the 
Good  Samaritan,  who  afforded  relief  to  the  first 
case  that  presented  itself,  Dr.  Scranton  had  begun 
in  his  own  home.  The  notable  medical  career 
thus  initiated,  is  at  this  writing,  still  active. 

A  site  in  the  western  part  of  the  city  was  selected 
as  that  in  which  the  native  houses  were  to  be 
bought  and  cleared  away,  or  made  over,  and  the  real 
estate  to  be  permanently  used  for  the  mission,  be 
located.  "We  intend  to  make  this  end  of  the  city 
a  little  bit  of  America,"  A.  wrote.  Instead  of  being 
obliged  to  occupy  straw  huts  as  they  had  pictured 
themselves  doing  while  in  America,  they  lived 
in  comfortable  houses,  and  only  on  country  trips 
suffered  inconvenience. 

A  house  in  Korea  is  much  stronger  and  warmer 
than  one  in  Japan  and  more  comfortable  than  one 
in  China,  besides  lending  itself  far  more  easily  to 
occupation  by  a  normal  modern  Christian  from 
the  West.  Especially  is  this  true,  if  one  appre- 
ciates fully  the  Heavenly  Father's  abundant  supply 
of  oxygen  and  its  compound  with  hydrogen,  besides 
much  subsidiary  blessings  as  space,  bath-tubs, 
fire  places  and  "comforts."  The  average  native 
of  "the  three  countries"  is  hardly  more  than 
medieval  in  his  desires  for  what  are  deemed  neces- 
sities in  the  West.  Even  on  the  subject  of  cleanli- 
ness, standards  differ.  "A  Chinaman  washes  his 
clothes,  and  a  Japanese  his  person,"  but,  whether 
outwardly  or  inwardly,  in  his  drygoods  or  in  simple 


102       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

nature's  covering,  the  Korean  standard  comes  up 
to  that  of  the  Middle  Kingdom  or  the  Land  of  the 
Gods,  is  still  a  mooted  question.  It  is  significant 
that,  so  far  (1912),  and  after  trial,  the  Baptists 
have  made  no  impression  on  Korea.  The  ordinary 
native  does  not  like  the  smell  of  soap,  or  take  kindly 
to  either  immersion  or  bath  tubs. 

The  orthodox  measurement  of  a  Korean  room 
is  eight  foot  square,  though  eight  by  twelve  is  com- 
mon, so  that  the  first  business  of  a  new  tenant 
infected  with  western  ideas  is  to  remove  partitions 
and  knock  several  apartments  into  one.  This 
done,  he  feels  at  least  more  free  even  than  a  dweller 
in  the  flats  of  a  New  York  city  sky-scraper;  where, 
if  he  swing  dumb-bells  in  his  cubicle,  a  man  is  apt 
to  skin  his  knuckles  on  the  steam  radiator  warmed 
from  the  basement.  Many  Korean  rooms  have 
a  larger  area,  but  the  multiple  of  feet  is  4  or  8. 

Sufficient  area  being  gained  for  rugs,  rocking 
chairs,  tables  and  bookcases  in  the  living  room; 
for  bedsteads,  bureau,  cradle,  stools  and  lamps 
in  the  sleeping  chamber;  or  for  range,  dish  closet, 
place  for  pots  and  pans,  refrigerators,  tubs  and 
basins,  apparatus  for  fuel  and  lighting  in  the  kitchen, 
in  a  word,  facilities  for  storage,  illumination,  food, 
sleep,  and  existence,  according  to  civilisation, 
it  is  possible  to  eat,  sleep  and  live  comfortably, 
even  in  Korea  and  the  rest  of  the  business  is  easy. 
The  first  comer  may,  but  the  old  dwellers  in  the 
beautiful  country  and  amid  the  lovable  people 
do  not  sympathise  with  an  ex-American  envoy 
in  Soul,  who,  afterwards,  while  in  Washington, 


Voyages  and  First  Impressions    108 

waiting  for  further  appointment — no  European 
plum  being  ripe — said:  "I  should  rather  go  to 
Siam  than  be  hanged,  but  I  should  rather  be  hanged 
than  go  to  Korea  again."  Things  have  been 
made  different  in  one  man's  lifetime.  At  the  Korea 
of  1912,  the  older  generation,  who  knew  its  naked- 
ness and  poverty,  wonders.  Above  all  others  the 
missionaries  were  transformers. 


IX 

Inside  a  Korean  House 

A  KOREAN  domicile  is  a  smoker,  built  on  the 
same  plan  as  a  human  tobacco-burner,  with 
a  fire  at  one  end  and  something  else  at  the 
other.  In  the  terminal  kitchen,  the  fuel  is  placed 
and  kindled  twice  daily,  making  a  combination  of 
utilities.  The  rice  is  boiled,  the  extras  are  cooked 
and  the  heat  is  utilised  all  at  once.  The  products 
of  combustion  pass  into  flues  laid  in  the  middle 
space  under  the  flat  stone  floor  of  the  living  rooms 
which  are  set  between  the  kitchen  and  all  out  doors. 
The  exit  for  smoke,  be  it  hole,  vent  or  chimney, 
high  or  low,  is  at  the  farther  side,  often  quite 
low,  even  beneath  the  ground  level.  Twice  a  day, 
between  sunrise  and  sunset,  a  Korean  city  wears 
a  gray  pall  of  smoke,  because  of  the  making  up  or 
replenishing  of  the  kitchen  fire,  which  warms  also 
the  house.  Towards  night  in  winter,  one  on  the 
street  may  have  hard  work  to  keep  either  his  nose 
or  eyes  comfortable  in  the  acrid  vapors  or  to  find 
his  way  through  the  pine  wood  smoke.  In  winter 
the  hot  floor  of  the  kang  is  delightfully  welcome 
to  the  incomer  who  is  cold,  wet,  or  rheumatic;  but 
in  summer  one  feels  like  a  loaf  set  in  an  oven.  In 
old  Korea  a  night  spent  in  a  close  room,  between 
104 


Inside  a  Korean  House  105 

fear  of  the  tigers  outside  and  the  heated  stones 
and  poisoned  air  within  was  usually  one  of  misery. 
Between  May  and  October  one  had  an  Ephraim- 
like  feeling  of  being  half-baked.  The  "sitz-fleish," 
as  our  German  friends  say,  may  be  well  roasted, 
while  the  part  furthest  from  the  floor  may  be  in 
polar  cold.  The  usual  sensation  is  that  of  being 
in  an  incubator  and  wanting  to  break  the  shell  to 
get  air  and  life.  In  time  the  veteran  traveller  in 
Korea  learns  to  sympathise  with  an  egg,  but  knows 
not  whether  to  call  himself  that,  or  an  oyster, 
"stewed,  fried,  roasted  or  in  the  shell."  Never- 
theless "while  in  Rome,  one  must  do  as  the  Romans 
do"  and  so,  for  economy  and  the  peace  and  satis- 
faction of  native  patients,  even  modern  hospitals 
in  Korea  are  built  with  a  kang,  or  heated 
cement  floor,  for  old  people  who  are  afraid 
to  lie  on  the  raised  bedsteads — for  fear  they 
may  fall  out. 

For  the  building  of  a  house,  the  ground  is  first 
selected  and  measured.  Holes  are  then  dug  at 
intervals  of  eight  feet  apart,  into  which  pebbles 
or  broken  stone  are  cast.  Then  lusty  laborers 
seize  the  ropes  and  raise  or  let  fall  from  pulleys, 
a  heavy  iron  weight  working  on  the  principle  of  an 
ore-stamp,  or  a  pile-driver.  In  the  village,  the 
builder  may  use  a  ram  of  heavy  timber  to  pound 
the  rubble  into  a  hard  mass.  Water  worn  pebbles 
or  blocks  of  square-faced  rock  are  then  laid  in  the 
half -filled  holes.  On  these  again  the  upright  beams 
that  support  the  whole  frame  are  set.  The  roof 
timbers  are  of  heavy  squared  tree  trunks,  which 


106       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

make  admirable  rafters,  which  when  black  with 
age  resemble  Flemish  oak. 

Smaller  beams  and  slabs  are  duly  framed  to  form 
the  roof,  and  on  these  is  laid  a  heavy  mass  of  earth, 
into  which  well  baked  tiles,  overlapping  each 
other,  are  set.  The  total  effect  from  the  outside, 
of  the  better  sort  of  Korean  roofs  is  pleasing,  and 
the  native  craftsmen  excel  in  geometric  combina- 
tions and  contrasting  colours  of  plain  and  encaustic 
tiles,  while  their  thickness  and  massiveness,  by 
keeping  out  wind  and  rain,  conduce  to  one's  sense 
of  coziness  and  comfort.  When  too  old  or  in  ill 
repair,  the  roof  can  yield  misery  enough,  when  the 
elements  are  raging. 

Our  description  has  been  of  the  better  sort  of 
dwelling,  as  occupied  by  the  official  or  well-to-do 
classes.  The  average  house  in  town  and  country 
is  in  every  way  humbler  and  has  a  thatched  roof. 
In  autumn,  Cho-sen  is,  like  Holland,  the  land  of 
red  roofs,  but  the  color  is  in  patches  only,  and  arises 
from  the  red  chili  peppers  laid  out  on  mats  to  dry. 

To  complete  the  outward  shell,  stone  walls  are 
built  from  end  to  end  enclosing  the  platform,  which 
contains  the  flues.  The  solid  level  of  earth  for 
the  floors  and  the  walls  of  masonry  are  raised  to  the 
height  of  from  four  to  eight  feet.  Usually  the 
masonry  is  of  hard  pebbles,  and  rarely  of  dressed 
stone,  but  well  cemented  at  the  seams  with  white 
mortar.  The  general  effect,  when  in  good  repair,  is 
not  unpleasing. 

By  neglect  and  dilapidation  the  structure  be- 
comes hideously  ugly,  unkempt  and  slatternly 


Inside  a  Korean  House  107 

looking,  much  like  its  greasy  inmates,  and  often 
requiring  props  to  keep  it  from  collapse.  Such 
a  state  of  affairs  is  smartly  utilised  by  the  burglar, 
who  finds  in  the  loose  stones,  his  opportunity. 
Instead  of  descending  from  the  roof,  through  a 
scuttle,  climbing  a  verandah  or  fire  escape,  forcing 
doors  or  lifting  windows  with  a  "jimmy,"  as  in 
western  countries,  the  Korean  housebreaker  pulls 
out  the  stones  in  the  lower  masonry,  burrows  his 
way  in  and  up  through  the  flues  or  tunnels  silently 
like  a  mole  into  the  earthern  mass,  beneath  the 
sleepers.  Then  uplifting  the  flat  coverings  of  the 
floor  and  cutting  through  its  paper  carpet,  he 
emerges  for  mischief. 

The  house  walls  are  woven  rather  than  con- 
structed, and  in  the  process  the  craftsmen  stand 
as  before  a  loom.  They  fasten  strings  of  twine, 
or  straw  rope  from  the  eaves  to  the  base  like  a  warp. 
On  these  again,  they  tie  lumps  of  hard  earth  or 
bits  of  stone,  thus  making  a  wattle,  on  which  they 
plaster  a  woof  of  mud,  until  a  sufficient  thickness 
of  material  between  the  timber  supports  has  been 
secured.  Both  outer  walls  and  inner  partitions 
are  thus  wrought.  The  windows  are  wooden 
frames,  covered  with  translucent  paper  set  high 
up  and  in  the  cities  usually  swinging  outward 
under  the  eaves.  In  these  modern  days,  glass 
panes  are  common,  even  in  the  villages.  In  the 
Soul  of  1912,  are  many  fine  public  buildings, 
modern  dwellings  and  glass  fronted  shops,  un- 
dreamed of  in  1885. 

The  house  being  now  enclosed,  doors  that  swing 


108       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

on  hinges  are  added,  always  with  a  little  hole  in 
the  corner  for  the  house  dog.  The  next  and  most 
important  function  is  to  provide  the  floor,  which 
is  to  be  eaten,  slept  and  lived  upon.  Flat  slabs, 
usually  of  limestone  two  or  three  inches  thick,  are 
laid  over  the  bed  of  earth  and  across  the  three  flues 
running  the  length  of  the  house.  Over  this  sur- 
face, the  hard,  thick,  tough  Korean  paper  is  pasted. 
With  daily  use  of  moving  feet  and  frequent  scrubbing 
and  wiping,  this  paper  carpet  takes  on  in  time  a 
mahogany  hue  and  the  polish  of  a  well-used  saddle, 
or  even  becomes  as  a  shining  mirror.  The  mud 
walls  are  also  limed,  white-washed  or  covered 
with  paper,  usually  white.  Shelves,  railings  for 
clothes,  hat  covers,  cases  for  books,  personal  or 
household  necessities,  with,  it  may  be,  a  brass 
bound  and  mother-of-pearl  inlaid  cabinet,  or  chest 
of  drawers,  complete  the  equipment  of  an  average 
room  in  the  better  class.  The  pillow  box,  the  latter 
often  finely  carved,  decorated,  painted  or  em- 
broidered at  the  ends  and  made  hollow  to  receive 
toilet  articles,  is  in  use  in  the  cities.  In  the  coun- 
try a  log  of  wood,  or  some  other  material,  as  hard 
as  Jacob's  pillow,  serves.  The  beds,  in  the  better 
class  of  houses,  are  put  away  in  cubby  holes  and 
out  of  sight  during  the  day,  for  in  Korea,  one 
hardly  "goes  to"  bed.  Rather  the  bed  comes  to 
the  sleeper.  To  "take  up  one's  bed  and  walk" 
is  a  task  easily  accomplished.  To  open  a  roof 
and  let  down  a  sick  man  on  a  bed  would  not  be 
difficult.  Often  silk  cushions  are  in  use  with  the 
wealthy. 


KORKAX    CHILDKK.X    .\.\n    NURSES. 


Inside  a  Korean  House  109 

Let  not  our  general  description  of  a  house  above 
the  average  mislead.  Of  the  2,742,263  human 
dwellings,  enumerated  in  the  census  taken  by  the 
Japanese  in  1909,  in  which  live  12,934,282  natives, 
probably  two  millions  have  rooms  eight  by  eight, 
thatched  roofs  and  only  mud  walls  and  floors  with- 
out being  papered.  It  is  mud,  mud,  oiled  paper 
and  thatch  everywhere,  with  smells  to  correspond. 
Of  Korea's  twelve  millions,  the  only  bed,  for  probably 
three-fourths,  is  the  floor  with  mats  in  summer  and 
the  warmed  kang  in  winter. 

Since  Korea  is  a  land  so  long  given  over  to 
neglect  by  its  rulers,  in  which  the  relation  of  gov- 
ernor and  governed  was  like  that  of  the  spider  and 
the  flies,  the  people  being  considered  as  so  much 
prey  to  be  skinned  and  devoured,  rather  than  to  be 
taught,  healed  and  helped,  the  tile-roofed,  well- 
furnished,  or  spacious  house,  with  tree-planted 
yard  or  flower-garden,  is,  as  the  census  shows,  the 
exception.  The  rule  and  average  is  a  one-roomed 
hut,  with  three  articulations  of  kitchen,  bedroom 
and  smoke-vent.  The  houses  are  more  or  less 
filthy,  with  a  roof  of  thatch  bound  down  with  rope 
to  hold  it  in  the  wind,  the  surroundings  being 
usually  of  the  most  uninviting,  unhygienic  and 
unsanitary  character.  Besides  a  thousand  other 
testimonies,  there  is  Mr.  Robert  Moose's  admirable 
little  book  on  Village  Life  in  Korea.  Christianity 
makes  a  mighty  inward  and  a  visible  outward 
change  in  a  Korean  villager's  house.  Faith  even 
makes  flowers  grow. 

In  summer,  to  hide  the  nakedness  of  mud  walls 


110       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

and  utilise  space  and  sunshine  for  the  growth  of 
melons,  or  other  succulents,  vines  are  planted  and 
run  up  over  the  front  and  roof,  which  in  autumn 
blazes  with  the  bright  scarlet  red  peppers  laid  out 
to  dry. 

The  house  of  a  noble  or  wealthy  man,  with  its 
numerous  and  spacious  apartments,  attractive 
wood  and  lattice  work,  silken  robes  and  mattresses, 
clean  papered  walls,  caligraphic  scrolls,  screens, 
brass  candle  sticks,  many  signs  of  a  lover  of  art  and 
books,  and  with  attractive  flower  gardens  and 
grand  old  trees,  is  indeed  an  enjoyable  sight.  Out 
of  these  houses  stride  forth  men  of  dignity  and 
manly  grace,  and  women  whose  toilets  compel 
admiration  because  of  the  evidences  of  the  neatness 
and  taste  of  ladyhood,  which  is  recognised  anywhere 
in  the  world.  Alas  how  rare  is  a  house  that  contains 
a  true  home,  and  in  the  whole  realm  how  relatively 
few  dwellings  that  are  clean  and  comfortable!  The 
first  reports  of  explorers,  like  Lieutenant  Foulke 
in  1882,  tell  of  the  revolting  absence  of  private 
conveniences.  Yet  out  of  most  unpromising  and 
unsavory  surroundings  may  emerge  men  in  immac- 
ulate white  or  in  gaudy  silk  garments — pink  for 
the  engaged  lad,  blue  for  the  official  and  rainbow 
tints  for  the  little  boy,  especially  at  New  Year's 
time,  and  ladies  in  winter  dress  of  ermine-edged 
coats,  or  summer  garb  of  tasteful  colours. 

In  many  a  village,  one  may  be  charmed  at  seeing 
natural  dignity,  even  amid  repelling  suqalor,  and 
faces  that  are  saintly  in  the  glory  of  pure  and 
revered  old  age.  Yes,  this  is  as  possible  as  that 


Inside  a  Korean  House  111 

"the  white  lotus  may  rise  from  the  black  mire." 
For  the  most  part,  however,  Korea  is  a  land  of  rancid 
poverty  and  of  shockingly  poor  people,  where  the 
sin  of  gluttony  alternates  with  hunger,  and  dirty 
slovenliness  startlingly  contrasts  with  the  white 
suits  of  the  men  and  ermine  linings  and  fringes 
of  the  women's  coats  that  shame  pearls  and  snow 
flakes.  It  is  so  in  the  twentieth  century,  it  was 
frightfully  so  in  1885,  that  Korea  is  a  land  of  con- 
trasts. The  facts,  borne  witness  to  by  scores  of 
exploring  travellers  in  every  province,  pioneers 
who  made  no  record,  but  told  their  experiences, 
and  from  half  a  hundred  who  put  down  on  paper 
their  impressions,  day  by  day,  make  a  composite 
of  truth  that  is  unchallengeable.  Many  a  mission- 
ary author  starts  out,  in  his  preface  or  introduction, 
to  tell  us  that  the  people  and  country  have  been 
misrepresented — as  undoubtedly  in  some  things 
they  have  been  and  then  as  eye-witness,  pours 
forth  facts  that  confirm  one  in  old  impressions. 
The  language  itself  reveals  the  situation.  All 
this,  since  human  nature  is  so  varied  and  composite 
and  divine  grace  so  powerful,  does  not  contradict 
the  facts  of  lovableness  and  the  manifold  excellencies 
of  character  in  the  unspoiled  Korean.  Most  old 
missionaries  are  enthusiastic  over  their  converts. 

What  strikes  the  newcomer  from  England,  the 
land  of  flower-gardens,  or  an  American  fond  of 
trim  dooryards,  or  a  Japanese  who  loves  cherry 
blossoms,  is  that  the  Korean  leaves  all  to  nature. 
Landscape  gardening  is  virtually  unknown.  The 
native  takes  out  in  verses,  what  we  require  in  living 


112       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

poetry.  Feathery  bamboo,  majestic  pines,  the  soar- 
ing wild  goose,  bathing  in  deeps  of  space  and  flashing 
into  silver  before  the  full  moon,  are  all,  or  are  left 
in  literature.  "  It  never  occurred  to  the  Korean  that 
with  just  a  little  coaxing,  trees  and  flowers  and  sweet 
touches  of  nature  would  come  trustingly  down 
from  their  retirement  in  the  hills  and  nestle  about 
the  home."  So  the  average  native  misses  the  joy 
and  delight  of  nature  as  a  daily  guest,  who  waits 
to  be  wooed.  In  that  field  of  education,  wherein 
Jesus  was  master-teacher,  his  children  from  over 
the  sea  were  to  be  the  exemplars  of  a  new  life  for 
Korea.  Erecting  first  the  solid  pillars  of  truth, 
they  added  the  lily  work,  "for  glory  and  for  beauty." 
After  having  been  so  long  fitted  to  his  environ- 
ment, as  hand  to  glove,  the  native,  like  his  ancestors, 
was  so  used  in  habit,  which  is  second  nature,  to  a 
Korean  domicile,  that  to  get  inside  a  foreigner's 
house  was  like  entering  a  new  world.  At  once  he 
lost  both  his  wits  and  his  sense  of  reality.  The 
new  structure  was  so  different  in  body  and  soul, 
equipment  and  decoration,  shape,  size,  measure- 
ments and  piercings  for  light,  air,  entrance  and  exit, 
that  he  was  apparently  attacked  with  intellectual 
vertigo,  passing  quickly  into  muscular  spasms. 
As  for  the  rustic,  he  was  like  a  bull  in  a  china 
shop,  or  a  lunatic  at  large,  creating  consternation 
in  his  host  and  more  particularly  in  his  hostess, 
even  while  in  imminent  danger  to  himself.  Only  by 
exercise  of  great  caution  could  he  get  through  a 
room  without  running  against  a  door,  upsetting  a 
chair,  or  flattening  his  nose  against  a  mirror,  when 


Inside  a  Korean  House  113 

he  imagined  he  was  looking  into  another  apartment 
and  attempting  to  get  there.  Both  his  entrance 
and  exploration  were  trials  to  the  housekeeper, 
Mrs.  Missionary,  however  zealously  she  might  coach 
him. 

In  training  servants  to  get  into  harmony  with 
their  new  environment,  the  house-mother  must 
virtually  set  up  a  college,  or  at  least  a  kindergarten 
of  domestic  science.  In  time,  however,  even  a 
mere  man  in  Korea  discerns  the  difference  between 
a  door  and  window,  a  floor  cloth  and  a  napkin, 
and  the  relative  honour  and  dishonour  of  various 
utensils.  He  even  appraises  critically  the  quality 
of  scrubbing,  washing  and  drinking  water,  with 
other  et  ceteras  of  life  too  numerous  to  catalogue 
here.  Nevertheless,  at  first,  cases  of  native  mothers 
and  sons  drinking  the  starch  water,  with  the  indigo 
bluing  and  all,  were  known.  Happily,  results 
were  not  fatal. 

The  native  women  seemed  at  first  sadly  defective 
in  that  marvelous  intuition,  which  we  ascribe  to 
the  daughters  of  Eve.  Except  in  matters  vitally 
feminine,  they  were  no  more  acute  than  the  males, 
boy  or  adult,  in  learning  the  fitness  of  things  as 
established  for  a  thousand  years  in  Occidental  lands. 
They  did  not  actually  sit  down  on  red  hot  iron, 
but  cases  of  rapid  rising  from  the  suddenly  felt 
caloric  of  stove  lids,  mistaken  for  seats,  have  been 
known  to  occur  within  the  foreigner's  new-fangled 
architecture.  These  daughters  of  the  land  were 
especially  non-plussed  as  to  altitudes,  when,  from 
one-storied  houses  in  which  the  floor  was  the  usual 


114       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

sitting  place,  they  first  encountered  chairs.  Mrs. 
Missionary  hardly  knew  whether  to  laugh,  to  cry, 
or  to  scold,  when  a  bevy  of  white-clad  visitors 
perched  themselves  upon  the  high  backs  of  the  odd 
things  called  chairs,  with  their  stocking  feet  resting 
on  their  seats.  In  the  meeting  house,  it  was  of  little 
use  to  introduce  furniture  of  the  Western  fashion. 
The  women  would  sit  on  top  of  the  back  frames 
and  the  men  found  the  seats  too  hard.  So  in  the 
native  church  edifices  the  people  sit  on  the  floor — 
in  perfect  comfort.  Only  a  straw  curtain  of  mat- 
ting divides  the  sexes. 

Nevertheless,  responding  to  patience  and  kind- 
ness, in  time  the  native  amah,  or  child's  nurse  and 
the  kitchen  maid,  or  table  servant,  made  models 
of  appropriateness,  diligence  and  loyal  faithful- 
ness. Upon  the  mind  of  even  the  lass  or  a  matron 
from  the  country,  the  light  dawned  and  even  the 
mystery  of  chairs,  pillows,  bedsteads  became  clear. 
Natives  of  the  masculine  gender  sewed,  washed  and 
ironed,  but  they  would  not  cook.  That  was  woman's 
work  and  the  sexes  rarely  worked  in  the  same  room. 
A  Japanese  cook  was  usually  hired  for  this  special 
work. 


X 
New  Seed  in  Old  Soil 

MRS.  MISSIONARY  saw  many  things  that 
escaped  a  mere  man's  eyes.  Many  of 
her  letters  give  piquantly  racy  accounts 
of  what  came  under  her  notice.  The  Pennsylvanian 
himself  believed  profoundly  in  the  function  of  a 
Christian  home  in  a  pagan  land.  He  wrote: 
"A  good  wife  is  the  making  of  a  man.  .  .  .  Since 
I  am  married  I  am  much  improved.  .  .  .  Mis- 
sionaries' wives  are  brave,  heroic,  devoted  women. 
They  do  much  in  making  good  homes  for  their 
husbands.  Homes,  Christian  homes  are  what  are 
needed  out  here.  They  have  no  homes  as  we  under- 
stand the  term.  A  husband  never  eats  with  his 
wife.  None  but  immediate  friends  are  allowed  to 
see  her.  May  the  good  Lord  help  us  to  teach  them 
better  things." 

He  pitied  the  sex  that  was  robbed  of  youth,  for 
Korean  female  humanity  in  pagan  days  had  no 
girlhood,  as  we  understand  it.  "Korean  girls 
live  in  the  air  and  light  until  they  are  eight  or  nine. 
Then  they  are  shut  up  virtually  as  prisoners  for 
life.  Only  the  boys  are  educated."  A.  was  asked 
by  a  young  Korean  if  he  knew  the  name  of  his  wife 
before  marrying  her.  The  surprised  husband  and 


116       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

unceasing  lover  answered,  "Yes,  of  course."  He 
then  put  the  same  question  to  the  native.  The 
answer  was  "No."  In  old  Korea  a  female  was  only 
some  man's  daughter,  wife  or  mother,  without  a 
personality  of  her  own.  Some  of  the  names  given 
to  girls  were  shocking,  for  they  recalled  the  inmates 
of  the  pigpen,  the  rat  trap  or  the  barnyard.  When 
numerous  in  a  single  family,  daughters  were  simply 
numbered,  not  named. 

A.  had  in  him  a  magnificent  strain  of  contempt 
for  mediocrity,  stupidity,  or  dullness.  "Music 
pours  on  mortals  its  beautiful  disdain,"  sang 
Emerson.  "Appie's"  life  was  itself  music — a  song 
of  praise  to  God.  In  the  soul  of  this  eugenic  mortal, 
this  trophy  of  divine  grace,  with  an  elect  human 
ancestry  and  a  still  grander  heredity  from  God, 
there  was  a  superb  disdain  for  the  commonplace, 
for  the  fleshly  life  below  par,  for  needless  failure, 
for  human  beings  who  were  not  what  they  ought, 
but  could  be.  For  the  coward  who  shirked  duty, 
for  the  lazy  who  wasted  the  church's  money  for 
the  mean,  the  ultra-conceited  and  the  deceitful, 
his  anger  was  apt  to  flame  forth.  In  a  word,  A. 
was  filled  with  a  noble  hatred  of  wilful  waste  and 
needless  indolence.  His  wrath  was  akin  to  that 
of  his  Master's,  when  things  holy  were  trampled 
in  the  mire,  or  pearls  were  cast  before  swine.  In 
college  days,  his  indignation  burst  out  against 
stupid  blunderers  who  squandered  their  time  in 
brutal  horseplay,  or  at  hazing  that  fitted  an  Apache 
kid  better  than  a  Christian  heir  of  all  the  ages. 
In  Japan  he  was  indignant  that  "our  noble  English 


New  Seed  in  Old  Soil  117 

language"  was  taught  by  the  high-salaried,  drunken, 
ignorant  riff-raff.  For  an  able  bodied  lazy  mis- 
sionary, man  or  woman,  that  squandered  the  re- 
sources of  the  Mission  Board,  living  chiefly  on 
rockers  and  cushions,  his  contempt  was  apt  to  be 
outspoken.  For  the  filthy,  indolent,  gluttonous, 
beggarly  native  of  Korea,  he  had  no  praise ;  for  the 
lofty-minded,  high-nosed,  starched  erudite  official 
ignoramus,  monster  of  petty  learning,  proud  of 
his  rank,  and  quick  to  avail  himself  of  the  facilities 
of  his  office  and  power  to  sponge  upon,  rob,  or 
oppress  the  poor,  his  disgust  was  profound. 

The  treatment  which  Korean  women  received 
at  the  hands  and  tongues  of  men,  from  king  to 
beggar,  roused  Appenzeller's  soul  to  constant 
wrath.  The  hair  shirt  he  wore  was  to  feel  the 
prickly  smart  of  indignation,  while  restraining  his 
temptation  to  physical  violence,  or  hasty  methods 
of  repression  or  abolition.  These  interior  feelings, 
shut  up  in  his  bones  like  volcano  fires,  may  explain 
why  he  at  times,  using  his  own  judgment,  boldly 
braved  alike  the  bully  or  the  bigot  in  high  office  and 
the  angry  crowd,  or  interpreted  his  rights  as  citizen, 
in  the  light  of  American  history,  rather  than  accord- 
ing to  the  subjective  feelings,  even  of  his  official 
fellow-Americans,  when  they  were  moved  to  abridge 
his  liberty.  Sometimes  this  lack  of  nerve  or  wis- 
dom infected  even  the  United  States  navy.  For 
either  the  courage,  patriotism,  or  the  soldierly 
qualities  of  a  certain  captain,  who  hesitated  to 
send  his  sailors  or  marines  to  Soul,  to  protect 
American  life  or  property,  because  it  was  "endan- 


118       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

gering  the  lives  of  his  men,"  who  could  have  re- 
spect? The  attitude  of  such  a  man  wearing  the 
uniform  of  the  service,  honoured  from  Decatur  to 
Dewey,  was  almost  as  ludicrous  as  that  of  a  cer- 
tain fresh  person,  of  whom  Dr.  Allen  in  his  "Things 
Korean"  tells,  who  asked  "What  is  the  United 
States  navy  for,  except  to  protect  missionaries?" 

Nevertheless  the  whisper,  from  ages  past,  "Wise 
as  serpents  harmless  as  doves"  sounded  more 
clearly  to  Appenzeller,  than  did  the  thunders  of  a 
howling  mob,  the  threats  of  Japanese  prigs  over- 
stepping their  authority,  or  the  documents  that 
issued  from  the  American  legation,  when  certain 
men,  in  the  earlier  years,  showed  with  how  little 
wisdom  the  world  is  governed.  When  the  search 
warrant,  bearing  the  seal  of  the  United  States 
embassy,  authorising  the  sleuths  of  the  Korean 
court,  or  its  apes  and  travesties,  the  Japanese 
spies  and  mercenaries  in  Korean  pay,  to  search  his 
house  in  order  to  drag  to  prison,  torture,  and  death 
the  victims  of  personal  hate,  A.  like  a  good  law- 
abiding  American,  obeyed  to  the  limit  of  the  letter. 
When  however,  he  could  save  a  human  life  that 
had  sought  asylum  under  his  roof,  from  the  clutch 
of  "the  king,"  or  his  minions,  or  from  a  murderer 
of  any  sort,  he  was  not  slow  to  do  so  by  giving 
shelter,  or  assisting  by  food  or  in  flight.  For  years 
anything  like  real  government  in  Korea  was  a  farce. 

Despite  abominable  treatment  by  individual 
Japanese  of  the  Koreans,  or  the  horrible  mess  which 
some  of  the  Mikado's  servants  made  of  their  business 
in  the  peninsula,  one  must  justify  the  final  action 


New  Seed  in  Old  Soil  119 

of  the  Tokyo  government,  in  1910,  in  absorbing  the 
sovereignty  of  a  Court  that  refused  to  reform  and 
of  abolishing  a  nation  whose  rulers  had  betrayed 
it.  Nevertheless  some  Japanese  newspaper  cor- 
respondents have  lied,  and  do  lie  freely  about 
American  missionaries,  some  of  their  statements 
suggesting  a  malice  almost  satanic.  In  one  case, 
near  the  end  of  his  career,  A.  was  attacked  most 
brutally  and  without  cause  by  a  Japanese  railway 
labourer,  and  lost  blood  in  defending  himself.  In 
mildly  punishing  the  aggressor  by  a  ridiculously  short 
sentence  in  prison,  the  Japanese  court  made  as  big  a 
farce  of  law  and  justice  as  one  could  well  imagine. 
All  this  "beautiful  disdain"  does  not  however, 
reveal  fully  the  reality  of  the  soul  of  the  disciple 
in  Korea,  who  followed  the  example  of  his  Syrian 
Master.  In  Jesus,  the  Holy  One,  the  burning 
wrath,  the  scourge  of  small  cords,  the  defiance  to 
his  enemies  to  do  their  worst,  even  to  the  shameful 
death  of  the  cross,  covered  only  divine  pity  and  love 
that  were  before  the  foundation  of  the  world. 
Though  rebuking  Pilate  the  hangman,  scorching 
the  hypocrites,  shaming  the  cowardly  disciples 
and  bidding  the  traitor  hasten  about  his  business, 
Jesus  was  yet  tender  to  the  children  and  forgiving 
to  the  harlot,  the  publican,  and  the  fugitive  who 
repented.  The  tastes  of  the  Son  of  Man  were 
one  way,  but  his  sympathies  in  another  direction. 
For  their  sakes  and  salvation,  Jesus  washed  his 
disciples'  feet,  touched  with  healing  the  lepers, 
and  for  us  agonised  in  prayer  for  strength  to  bear 
his  own  cross  in  our  behalf.  His  disdain  was  for 


120       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

hypocrisy,  spiritual  pride,  for  foulness  and  sin,  but 
not  for  the  sinner,  nor  for  humanity.  For  our 
sakes,  in  him,  pity  overcame  disgust.  To  redeem 
us,  he  crucified  his  tastes.  He  wrought  salvation 
and  victory  by  self-conquest  and  devotion  to  his 
Father's  will. 

According  to  the  measure  of  the  grace  given  him, 
the  disciple  in  Korea,  feeling  he  was  not  above  his 
Lord,  was  every  day  humiliated  by  his  shortcomings, 
while  gratefully  exultant  that  his  Redeemer  had 
called  him  to  salvation  and  had  laid  on  him  the 
duty  of  proclaiming  it.  So,  Appenzeller  conquered 
his  race  prejudices,  the  white  man's  instinctive 
repulsion  to  a  dark  skin,  his  oft  offended  senses, 
his  hatred  of  dirt,  foulness,  gluttony,  meanness, 
cruelty  and  nastiness  of  all  sorts.  His  loathing 
was  not  for  the  humanity  about  him,  poor,  neglected, 
errant  as  it  was,  but  only  for  the  sin  that  had  caused 
it.  Rather  as  alert  as  an  expert  in  gems,  he  caught 
sight  of  the  glittering  soul-jewels  buried  in  dirt 
and  rags.  No  impresario,  searching  Europe  for 
grand  opera  songsters,  whose  voices  might  be 
worth  a  fortune  for  a  night  or  a  king's  ransom  for 
a  season,  was  ever  more  discerning  than  was  this 
seeker  after  souls.  To  the  inquiring  penitent  or 
spiritually  hungry,  to  the  trembling  soul  at  the 
foot  of  the  cross,  Appenzeller  was  all  patience  and 
tenderness,  grace  and  love.  Were  it  the  proud 
Confucian,  startled  out  of  his  crusted  traditions, 
to  behold  in  the  Man  of  Sorrows  the  unique  char- 
acter of  all  history,  the  illiterate  beggar,  cavernous 
with  hunger,  the  loathsome  leper,  in  rags,  the 


New  Seed  in  Old  Soil  121 

victim  of  royal  or  official  hate,  fugitive  or  in  prison, 
in  a  word,  were  it  needy  humanity,  Appenzeller 
was  a  true  disciple  of  Him  who,  braving  the  lifted 
stones  of  the  self-righteous,  said  "  Neither  do  I  con- 
demn thee,  go  and  sin  no  more."  Like  the  Master 
who  left  us  the  example  when,  amid  the  paid  grief 
makers,  he  awoke  the  child  to  life  and  then  said 
"Give  her  to  eat."  Appenzeller  blended  the  most 
lofty  spiritual  purposes  with  the  most  urgent  dictates 
of  common  sense.  His  was  both  power  and  wisdom. 
It  was  his  self  effacement,  his  Jesus-like  pity,  his 
unquailing  patience  in  labours  manifold  that  con- 
stituted the  "beautiful  disdain"  of  which  we  speak. 
From  such  a  consecrated  vessel  and  instrument,  the 
Master  evoked  the  sweetest  of  all  harmonies  on 
earth,  the  "still,  sad  music  of  humanity." 

The  Appenzellers  were  among  the  first  to  give 
the  Koreans  an  object  lesson  in  a  pretty  dooryard 
and  to  show  that  grass  was  in  itself  beautiful,  even 
when  not  mantling  a  hillock  of  graves,  and  that 
the  living,  as  well  as  the  dead,  had  right  to  enjoy 
these  glories. 

Grass  is  the  blessing  of  the  Temperate  Zone. 
Pampas  and  prairies  are  American.  In  tropics 
and  sub-polar  lands,  where  is  your  grass?  Either 
moss  or  jungle  one  may  indeed  see.  The  lawn, 
cultivated  for  its  beauty,  may  almost  be  called  the 
invention  of  English-speaking  people.  Wordsworth 
sang  of  "the  splendour  of  the  grass,"  as  well  as 
of  "the  glory  of  the  flower." 

We  have  all  heard  the  gardener's  secret  of  the 
velvety  charm  of  the  English  turf — "Water,  mow, 


122       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

and  give  constant  care  for  three  hundred  years." 
In  sub-tropical  countries,  the  ubiquitous  bamboo 
robes  the  earth  and  makes  beauty  for  the  eye; 
but  for  sheep's  food  it  is  like  the  forest  of  razors 
in  the  Teutonic  fairy  tale,  cutting  to  pieces  the 
tender  tissues.  Except  as  important  for  sacrifice, 
the  sheep  was  unknown  to  Korea.  Alas  for  the 
people  and  their  missionary  teachers,  in  a  land 
where  flocks  are  unheard  of !  For  them  the  Bible  has 
many  blank  pages.  The  lovely  imagery  of  the  ewe 
and  the  lamb,  the  fold  and  the  shepherd  is  dim, 
and  too  distant  to  be  more  than  faintly  realised. 
The  south-western  province,  in  the  Nak  Tong 
valley,  is  perhaps  richest  of  all  regions  in  Korea 
in  true  specie  of  graminece,  and  Quelpart  Island  is 
noted  for  its  lawn  grass. 

Yet,  no  Lancaster  county  Pennsylvanian,  with 
any  self  respect,  could  live  even  in  1886,  without 
grass  in  view,  and  Mrs.  Missionary  determined 
upon  a  sodded  yard,  with  flowers  that  talked  of 
home  and  recalled  kindred  blossoms  in  memory. 
So,  we  have  a  letter  telling  how  the  front  yard  of 
the  new  home  was  made  green  with  turf  grown  from 
imported  seed,  while  five  flower  beds  in  the  form  of 
four  triangles,  one  at  each  corner  of  a  square,  with 
a  circle  in  the  centre,  made  a  homelike  garden. 
No  fear  of  Chinese  characters  disturbed  her.  Soon 
each  parterre  was  a  blaze  of  colour.  The  front  of 
the  house  was  painted  dark  with  carnation  trimmings. 

How  the  sweet  odours  of  nature  now  blended 
mentally  with  the  aroma  of  poetry  and  the  language 
of  flowers,  the  perfume  of  past  events  which  made 


New  Seed  in  Old  Soil  123 

the  conservatories  of  memory  blossom  again! 
Sabbath  bells  chiming,  the  house  of  God  made 
beautiful  with  greenery  and  flowers,  labours  in 
church  and  sabbath  school,  family  worship  and 
grace  at  meals,  faces  of  friends  beloved — some  in 
the  crossing  of  the  host,  or  gone  before,  but  all  in 
"one  family  of  the  living  God" — joy  song  at  piano 
and  organ,  the  Pennsylvania  vistas  of  rich  grain 
and  cow-dotted  fields,  the  mountain  grandeurs  of 
New  York  and  Western  Massachusetts,  of  Rensse- 
laer  County,  with  the  Berkshires  in  view — a  thousand 
hallowed  memories  of  the  past — rose  to  the  resurrec- 
tion of  joy,  when  the  home  flowers  opened  their 
hearts  and  revealed  their  glories.  "Blessings  on 
Mrs.  Missionary"  was  what  husband,  guests,  and 
visitors,  neighbours,  and  natives  said,  as  they  saw 
"God's  thoughts"  thus  unfold  in  petal  and  corolla, 
while  from  their  chalices  rose  incense  and  perfume. 
Old  scriptures — the  "savor  of  life  unto  life,"  the 
name  of  the  Beloved  "as  ointment  poured  forth  "- 
took  on  fresh  meaning  in  the  Land  of  Morning 
Splendour  which  now  seemed  nearer  to  Heaven 
than  before. 

Yet  all  these  children  of  the  earth  reached  not 
equally  glory  in  their  development.  Some  throve 
finely  in  their  new  environment  and  held  their  own. 
A  few  even  surpassed  themselves  and  their  vegetable 
ancestors,  increasing  in  size,  splendour  and  quantity 
of  seed  stored  up,  as  it  were,  thirty,  sixty  and  a 
hundred  fold.  Others,  the  non-elect,  as  they  strug- 
gled up,  reminded  one  rather  of  the  degenerate 
sevens,  in  Pharaoh's  sinister  dream  of  kine  and  corn. 


124       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

However  there  were  those  that  believed  in  graft — 
of  the  right  sort.  They  felt  that  American  fruit 
from  the  land  of  the  Newtown  pippin,  the  Spitzen- 
berg,  and  the  King  apple  of  Tompkins  County, 
ought  to  have  the  same  chance  in  Korea.  In  the 
lake  region  of  New  York,  Iroquois  Indian  "crabs" 
had,  despite  all  opposition  or  retardation  of  sour- 
ness, worms,  or  blight,  been  transmuted  by  the 
faith  and  patience  of  ivilised  man  into  luscious 
miracles.  If  the  wisdom  and  loving  care  of  American 
and  Dutch  farmers,  who  began  in  Utrecht  cen- 
turies ago,  could  thus  co-work  with  the  Creator 
unto  triumphs  once  incredible,  why  should  there 
not  in  Korea  be  wrought  the  same  wonders? 

Forthwith  a  bundle  of  apple  and  pear  grafts, 
with  wax  sufficient  and  directions,  came  by  mail. 
The  result  was  not  only  abundance  of  delicious 
fruit  in  season  on  the  daily  table,  but  to  native  and 
alien  alike,  the  parable  in  spiritual  things  was  too 
apparent  to  be  lost  by  any.  For  the  exotic  flowers 
and  the  fruits  sent  from  afar,  most  of  the  natives 
were  and  are  now,  even  more  thankful.  Yet  a 
hundred  fold  more  are  thanks  to  God  given  for 
gospel  grafting.  By  a  happy  coincidence,  Dr. 
Nevius  born  in  the  region  of  orchards  in  the  Old 
Iroquois  maize  and  fruit  land,  between  the  "finger 
lakes,"  Cayuga  and  Seneca,  was  made  under  God 
the  classic  wonder-worker  both  in  China  and  Korea, 
in  the  two  distinct  fields  of  pomology  and  Christian 
self-support.  To  him  missionaries  and  native 
Christians  in  Morning  Calm  Land  and  in  the  Middle 
Kingdom  are  equally  grateful  for  double  blessings. 


XI 
The  Leadership  of  a  Little  Child 

SO  in  the  new  home  of  the  Pennsylvanians,  the 
cherry  trees,  the  apples — Northern  Spy  and 
Bell  Flower — made  colour,  perfume,  a  home 
feeling  and  refreshment  for  the  palate.  The  let- 
ters of  both  the  man  in  the  garden  and  the  help- 
meet for  him  show  how  grateful  to  the  Heavenly 
Father  they  were  for  their  homelike  Eden. 

Yet  all  such  food  out  of  the  earth  and  blooms 
of  the  garden  paled  before  the  human  blossom  that 
opened  in  the  Missionary's  home.  To  mated 
couples  all  over  the  world  comes  this  surprise, 
that  so  much  sweetness  can  be  contained  in  so 
small  a  bundle.  In  this  case,  it  was  a  whole  king- 
dom, even  all  Korea,  that  had  her  first  experience  of 
a  white  child,  a  girl,  born  within  her  realm.  Being 
the  initial  foreign  baby  of  "Caucasian"  race  and 
the  first  foreign  Christian  child  to  open  its  eyes 
in  Korea,  her  birth  marked  an  epoch  in  Cho-sen's 
long  annals.  The  first  boy,  born  later  in  a  Christian 
home,  was  a  son  of  Dr.  H.  N.  Allen. 

How    potent    an    evangeliser    that    Appenzeller 

infant  was,  could  not  be  realised  at  first,  but  as  the 

motherly  pride,  feminine  sympathy  and  curiosity 

and  the  eagerness  of  the  natives  of  both  sexes  and 

125 


126       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

all  ages  opened  ways  unexpected  into  their  hearts, 
the  Christian  teacher  found  walls  of  opposition 
falling  before  him.  His  house  at  once  became  a 
magnet  to  many  who  had  resisted  all  his  approaches. 
"We  must  see  the  baby"  was  the  sufficing  excuse 
of  strangers  from  near  and  far.  So  the  happy 
father  gave  new  glory  to  God,  and  took  courage. 
The  deathless  parable  of  Isaiah,  in  which  all  the 
beasts  of  the  forest — pre-ancient  enemies  of  each 
other  and  ever  ravening  with  tooth  and  claw, 
sting  and  venom,  but  now  lying  down  in  peace 
together — gained  at  once  a  new  illumination  and 
illustration.  The  promise  and  prophecy,  "A  little, 
child  shall  lead  them,"  vindicated  the  divine  wis- 
dom of  the  prophet,  explained  the  method  of  Jesus, 
made  Christmas  in  the  home  to  come  every  day 
in  the  year  and  recalled  Tholuck's  favourite  text 
and  his  sermon  on  it,  "The  Christian  life  a  glorified 
childhood." 

In  a  sense,  the  man  of  learning  and  scholarship 
was  humbled  to  find  what  a  helpless  and  uncon- 
scious infant  could  accomplish  in  opening  with  coral 
fingers  of  tiny  size,  gates  long  barred  where  he  had 
thundered  in  vain.  No  after  anxiety  of  rearing, 
education,  separation  by  oceans,  or  scourge  of 
solitude  could  ever  dim  the  bright  memory  of  that 
first  advent  in  the  home,  which  reproduced  anew 
both  the  Eden  romance  and  its  subsequent  dis- 
cipline. A  baby  in  the  home  makes  book-philos- 
ophy an  humble  subordinate,  in  comparison  to  the 
re-creating  and  transforming  experience  of  parent- 
hood. In  a  cradle,  made  by  a  Korean  carpenter 


The  Leadership  of  a  Little  Child     127 

and  entrusted  to  a  faithful  Korean  woman,  this 
first  member,  in  the  fraternity  of  the  second  mis- 
sionary generation,  that  soon  increased  to  scores, 
grew  in  favor  with  God  and  man,  but  especially, 
woman.  At  times  the  children  in  the  Appenzeller 
home  wore  the  pretty,  albeit  voluminous  dress  of 
the  native  little  folks,  which  in  the  case  of  the  boy 
was  as  amazing  in  variety  of  color  as  it  was  the 
product  of  laborious  detail.  A  silver  bell,  duly 
inscribed,  told  also  the  sex  of  the  precious  bundle 
of  humanity  and  clothing,  when  swathed  in  full 
winter  costume.  Certainly  the  Korean  dress  for 
little  folks  is  decidedly  pretty. 

A  son  and  two  daughters  followed  in  the  Appen- 
zeller household,  making  four  "hostages  to  fortune." 
As  seen  in  the  perspective  of  to-day,  the  record 
of  achievements  in  the  world's  work,  of  the  mis- 
sionary children  born  in  the  Japanese  empire  is 
a  noble  one.  Both  the  countries  of  their  birth  and 
those  of  their  parents  confound  the  notions  of  the 
shallow  cynic,  that  ministers'  children  fall  below 
the  standard  in  character  and  ability,  while  grandly 
confirming  the  science  of  eugenics  and  fulfilling 
the  divine  promises  so  abundant  in  the  scriptures 
of  the  word  of  God. 

What  shall  we  say  for  the  Korean  small  boy? 
Girls,  we  know,  "are  the  same  all  over  the  world." 
In  equal  literalness,  may  we  aver  that  all  the  male 
youngsters  are  likewise,  or  is  there  greater  variety, 
in  their  surplus  of  animalism  and  impishness,  of 
hope  and  of  promise,  in  these  budding  cranks  and 
geniuses?  Evidently  from  the  letters  of  A.  and  the 


128       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

accounts  of  all  observers,  which  show  marvelous 
uniformity  of  agreement,  the  young  Korean  top- 
knot holds  under  it  as  much  mystery,  wantonness, 
joyful  love  of  mischief,  propensity  to  tomfoolery 
and  power  to  plague  dogs,  cats,  sisters  and  all 
animate  things,  as  does  the  urchin's  noddle  else- 
where. Yes,  boys  are  boys,  even  in  Korea.  Yet 
the  Korean  native  mother  wants  them,  the  father 
is  comfortless  if  he  has  none,  the  schoolmaster 
tolerates  them,  and  the  little  peninsular  world,  which 
could  not  get  along  without  them,  manages  to  thrive 
with  them.  In  the  system  of  ancestral  worship, 
they  possess  a  sentimental  value,  out  of  all  propor- 
tion to  service  and  reality.  Yet  between  natural 
inheritance  and  acquired  character,  there  is  a  dif- 
ference of  worlds.  Divine  grace  knows  nothing 
of  geography  in  its  limits.  No  better  Christians 
were  ever  made  from  twice-born  lads,  than  in  Korea. 
A.  noticed  that  many  of  the  boys  bore  old  traces 
or  fresh  proofs  on  their  back  and  limbs  of  parental 
chastisement,  in  welts  and  scars,  sometimes  of  sheer 
brutality.  The  round  marks  left  by  the  heated 
iron  coins,  placed  with  the  tongs  on  their  limbs, 
by  infuriated  fathers,  had  not  been  always  by 
medical  advice.  Filial  piety  was  branded,  rubbed, 
welted  and  beaten  into  them.  Ancestor  worship 
has  much  of  its  basis  in  selfish  cruelty.  Some  of 
the  pet  names  given  to  children  by  pagan  parents 
were  revoltingly  licentious  or  obscene.  Since 
Christianity  has  become  the  religion  of  tens  of 
thousands  of  Koreans  there  is  a  decided  uplift  in 
the  quality  of  names  bestowed,  and  while  it  does 


The  Leadership  of  a  Little  Child     129 

not  abolish  the  rod,  its  tendency  is  to  do  without 
it,  even  as  love  drives  out  fear.  Yet  in  the  house 
the  boy  was  apt  to  be  spoiled  by  indulgence,  for 
the  Korean  father  must  depend  on  him  as  the 
future  high  priest  of  the  ancestor-worshipping  cult. 
Not  a  few  Korean  boys  are  insufferable  tyrants 
at  home. 

In  the  streets,  the  urchins  formed  a  dirty,  ragged 
bare-headed  army.  They  were  into  everything 
and  over  everything,  bawling,  laughing,  full  of  fun 
and  animal  spirits,  while  exceedingly  industrious 
in  activities  usually  very  inconvenient  to  adults, 
expecially  of  the  feminine  sort. 

In  Korean  Boy  Land,  on  New  Year's  Day  (Feb- 
ruary) and  for  two  weeks,  they  flew  kites  and  battled 
in  the  air,  one  striving,  with  strings  treated  with 
glue  and  pounded  glass,  to  cut  the  cord  of  the 
other.  In  March,  willow  whistles  were  made  and 
in  April,  "  marbles,"  played  with  small  stones, 
were  the  favourite  game.  Instead  of  polishing 
the  inclined  cellar  doors,  of  which  Pennsylvania 
knew  so  well,  they  wore  out  their  clothes  in  the  same 
place  by  sliding  down  banks  of  earth  or  on  sloping 
stones.  Another  season  was  devoted  to  swings. 
On  straw  rope  and  wooden  seats,  three  or  four  lads, 
forming  a  pyramid  on  each  other's  shoulders, 
enjoyed  themselves  in  lively  vibration.  One  was 
reminded  of  the  Korean  manner  of  carrying  eggs — 
in  straw  rope-bags  resembling  sausage  links.  In 
old  Korea,  "swing  day"  took  on  the  proportions  of 
a  national  festival.  One  famous  and  often  bloody 
and  fatal  form  of  sport  was  seen  in  the  stone  fights, 


130       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

which  were  as  vigorously  contested  and  as  pro- 
longed as  in  the  old  Philadelphia  contests,  of  the 
brick-yard  regions  and  with  the  same  weapons. 
Curiously  enough,  running,  jumping  and  ball 
playing  were  unknown  in  old  Korea.  New  systems 
of  indoor  athletics  and  outdoor  contests  have  been 
introduced  by  the  missionaries,  and  from  our 
marines  the  Soul  boys  learned  to  play  foot  and 
base  ball. 

The  untutored  sons  of  the  soil,  when  young,  did 
not  usually  understand  the  difference  between  the 
first  and  second  persons  in  the  study  of  the  foreigner's 
property,  being  very  apt  to  lay  their  hands  on  every 
desirable  thing  that  was  loose.  In  winter  they 
scuffed  along  on  clumsy  wooden  clogs,  having  two 
under  supports  chopped  out  of  the  bottom  to  raise 
their  soles  above  the  slush  and  mud.  In  summer 
they  went  barefooted.  Their  bareness,  so  far  from 
being  limited  to  their  feet,  was  spread  over  a  wide 
area  of  cuticle.  Very  little  folks  retained  only 
the  dress  of  Eden  from  early  June  to  late  September. 

Yet  the  other  side  of  the  picture  was  gloriously 
true.  Like  boys  all  over  the  world,  the  Korean 
brats  could  not  be  blamed  for  loving  action,  motion 
and  circulation.  They  followed  gladly  those  who 
knew  how  to  lead  them.  In  his  heart,  the  universal 
boy  is  a  hero-worshipper.  He  admires  a  captain. 
He  likes  to  be  understood  and  appreciated.  He 
responds  to  praise  and  cheer.  "Their  heartstrings 
are  too  often  torn  by  cruelty,"  wrote  A.  The  best 
of  them  needed  a  firm  hand,  continuous  discipline 
and  a  kindly  authority  too  strong  to  be  safely 


GIRLS  ARE  GIRLS  ALL  OVER  THE  WORLD. 


l-in  R  GENERATIONS  OK  C'HRISTIANS. 


The  Leadership  of  a  Little  Child     131 

challenged;  but,  when  underneath  outward  force, 
love  and  kindness  were  discernible,  the  transforma- 
tion in  character  was  marvelous.  No  more  wonderful 
work  with  boys  has  been  done  in  any  missionary 
field  than  in  Korea.  Mobs  of  young  rowdies  have 
been  transformed  into  regiments  of  decent  citizens 
and  hopeful  Christian  men.  The  results  in  Ping 
Yang,  for  example,  probably  equal  in  moral  out- 
put anything  attempted  elsewhere  at  any  time. 
Military  discipline,  in  the  invincible  army  of  Oyama, 
in  China  and  Manchuria,  wrought  wonders  with 
the  sons  of  Japanese  peasants.  Not  less  striking, 
if  less  martial,  have  been  the  results  attained  in 
Korea  by  Christian  teachers.  Above  all  other 
sorts  and  conditions  of  Korean  humanity,  A.  was 
successful  with  the  boys,  so  much  so  indeed  that 
at  times  he  was  embarassed  with  riches.  Korean 
fathers  and  mothers,  in  various  ranks  of  society, 
wanted  not  only  a  school  education  for  their  sons, 
but  also  personal  training,  even  to  physical  correc- 
tion, in  the  American's  family.  They  saw  how 
well  A.  ruled  his  own  house.  They  often  besought 
him  to  take  their  own  offspring,  both  the  average 
and  the  incorrigibles,  to  make  of  them  his  servants, 
in  order  to  develop  them  into  good  men.  They 
were  mightily  impressed  with  the  power  of  Christian 
family  education.  Some  of  these  boys  are  now 
among  the  strongest  pillars  of  the  Church  of  Christ 
in  Korea.  They  were  Christ's  "little  ones,"  and 
to  their  friend,  they  were  as  "brethren." 

Yes,    Appenzeller    loved    the    Korean    children. 
He  thought  they  were  worth  living  for,  and  he 


132       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

proved  his  own  greatness  in  the  hour  of  death  by 
being  willing  to  die  for  one  of  them.  "He  might 
have  saved  his  own  life,"  says  Dr.  H.  N.  Allen, 
"had  he  not  gone  back  to  attempt  the  rescue  of  a 
native  girl  entrusted  to  his  care  for  the  journey." 

Yet  this  was  nothing  wonderful  for  Appenzeller. 
It  was  just  like  him,  for  the  secret  of  that  beautiful 
life  of  his  lay  in  old  St.  John's  words,  thus  told  in 
divine  and  childlike  simplicity: 

"We  know  that  we  have  passed  from  death  unto 
life,  because  we  love  the  brethren.  .  .  .  Hereby 
perceive  we  the  love  of  God,  because  he  laid  down 
his  life  for  us,  and  we  ought  to  lay  down  our  lives 
for  the  brethren" — and  Appenzeller  did. 


XII 
On  Horseback — Old  Korean  Capitals 

TO-DAY  when  Chosen  has  nearly  a  thousand 
miles  of  railway  and  one  can  travel  in  luxury 
by  rail  and  steamer  from  London  to  Japan 
in  sixteen  days,  it  is  easy  to  go  from  the  Korean 
capital  to  the  frontiers,  north  or  east,  in  a  few  hours. 
To  the  pioneers  of  1885,  however,  it  was  a  problem 
of  many  days  upon  pony  back.  At  the  resting 
places,  one  had  to  make  a  choice  between  all  out- 
doors and  sleeping  on  a  floor  preempted  by  armies 
of  parasites,  and  near  a  stable  noisy  all  night  long 
with  dogs,  donkeys,  pigs  and  poultry.  Nor  could 
one  tell  whether  his  bedroom  had  been  occupied 
the  day  or  week  before  by  a  small-pox  patient  or 
man  with  an  infectious  disease.  Public  hygiene, 
except  in  its  cruellest  forms,  was  unknown. 

A  Korean  inn  consists  first  of  a  courtyard,  into 
which  all  comers,  whether  with  two  legs  or  four, 
enter.  The  central  or  living  room  is  opposite  the 
gate  and  flanking  it  are  the  quarters  of  the  servants, 
hostlers  and  animals.  One  is  charged  only  for 
meals,  shelter  for  man  and  beast  being  given  free. 
It  is  hard  to  say  when,  for  the  unseasoned  traveller, 
sleep  begins,  for  all  night  long  the  parasites  are 
active  with  his  cuticle,  while  in  the  stable,  near  by, 
133 


134       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

the  four-footed  beasts,  keep  up  such  a  racket  by 
kicking,  pawing,  neighing  and  squealing,  with 
variations  of  barking,  yelping,  growling  and  crow- 
ing, that  sound  slumber  is  impossible.  A.  found 
that  often  it  was  a  woman  who  "run"  the  hotel 
and  made  the  men,  including  her  husband,  "stand 
round"  and  obey,  bringing  a  central  point  of  order 
out  of  whirlwinds  of  confusion.  In  the  stable,  the 
pack  and  saddle  animals  are  unslung  and  given 
more  area  for  their  vicious  activities.  Yet  there  is  a 
limit.  Korean  ponies  however  are  not  allowed  to 
lie  down  at  night.  They  are  hung  up  so  to  speak, 
being  supported  from  the  beams  overhead.  Ropes, 
connecting  with  their  belly  bands,  so  hold  them, 
4ike  a  strait-jacket,  that  their  hoofs  barely  touch 
the  floor.  Thus,  firmly  saddled  from  below, 
the  vicious  beasts  are  prevented  from  demolish- 
ing the  woodwork,  while  attempting  to  bite  or 
kick  their  neighbours — a  playful  game  which  they 
mightily  and  persistently  seek  to  enjoy. 

Towards  dawnlight,  the  two-legged,  feathered 
murderers  of  sleep,  that  might  be  named  "Mac- 
beth," but  which  in  Japanese  are  called  "the 
long  singing  birds  of  the  night"  flap  their  wings, 
elongate  their  throats  and  make  the  rafters,  if 
not  the  welkin,  ring.  At  any  moment,  from  two 
to  four  A.M.,  the  kitchen  maids  awake  to  activity. 
Fires  are  kindled  to  cook  the  breakfast — rice  for 
the  man  and  hot  bean  soup,  thickened  with  straw, 
for  the  donkeys  and  ponies.  Cows  and  oxen 
thrive  on  a  steady  diet  of  millet,  mush  and  straw, 
but  on  such  food  a  horse  loses  flesh  and  strength. 


On  Horseback — Old  Korean  Capitals  135 

Appenzeller's  initial  purpose  was  to  explore  the 
land  and  select  strategic  points  for  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel  and  the  planting  of  churches.  He 
started  from  Soul,  April  13,  1887,  in  company  with 
Mr.  Hunt,  of  the  Customs  Service,  to  go  as  far  as 
Ping  Yang  at  least.  His  first  business  was  to  get 
acquainted  with  the  animal  he  rode  and  the  mapu, 
or  man  who  took  care  of  the  craeture.  In  the  annals 
of  horsehood,  the  small,  wiry,  patient,  vicious, 
Korean  pony  has  a  unique  place.  Centuries  of 
cruelty  have  apparently  spoiled  any  traces  of 
original  good  character  he  may  have  possessed. 
Nevertheless  the  beast  yields  measurably  to  kind- 
ness. With  an  overplus  of  activity  in  the  morning, 
he  is  eager  to  use  his  teeth,  tail  and  hoofs.  Then 
he  likes  to  go  faster  than  his  master  may  desire. 
In  these  strenuous  hours,  the  bells  in  front  of  his 
neck  make  a  merry  clangour  and  his  rider  or  keeper 
can  hardly  hold  him  in.  Late  in  the  day,  when 
wearied,  and  on  a  jog  trot,  the  lively  jingle  of  the 
morning  bells  becomes  a  slow  monotone.  Hardly 
so  sure  footed  as  ass,  or  donkey,  he  occasionally 
shies,  dumping  his  rider,  or  he  falls  off  narrow 
ledges,  pack  and  all,  but  usually  comes  up  smiling 
and  seems  hard  to  kill  by  any  such  trifle  as  a  tum- 
ble. At  times  he  seems  to  gloat  over  dumping  a 
foreigner,  or  his  ropes  of  cash,  books  and 
bedding. 

The  gospel  prospector  soon  discovered  the 
peculiarities  of  his  mount.  He  noticed  especially 
how  much  more  alert,  because  of  long  experience, 
even  than  his  alien  rider,  the  animal  was  in  recognis- 


136       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

ing  the  flag  that  flies  over  the  hotel  gate.  At  the 
sight  of  this  cheering  signal  for  refreshments,  visions 
of  beans,  hay,  fodder  and  stable  rest  flit  across 
his  equine  imagination  and  under  a  spurt  he  gallops 
joyfully  up  to  the  gate  of  the  inn.  As  for  the  mapu, 
or  ostler,  all  of  the  sense  usually  accredited  to  the 
horse  is  his  and  much  also  that  is  distinctly  human. 
He  has  his  own  ideas  about  the  proper  treatment  of 
horseflesh.  In  his  eyes  the  foreigner  may  be  a 
great  man,  as  his  servants,  who  usually  bully  the 
hotel  people,  vociferously  declare;  but  the  same 
foreigner  certainly  shows  himself  a  stupid  fool, 
if  he  overworks  his  beast,  or  if,  refusing  to  dis- 
mount, he  keeps  his  saddle  during  a  stiff  climb,  or 
up  a  steep  hill,  for  example.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  biped  who  dismounts  and  strides  up  a  heavy 
grade  and  is  otherwise  merciful  to  his  dumb  servant, 
rises  in  the  mapu's  eyes. 

Korea  being  the  meeting  place  of  arctic  and  trop- 
ical currents  of  air  and  water,  one  is  not  surprised 
to  recognise  both  in  the  warm  south  and  the  snowy 
north  many  varieties  and  contrasts.  The  water 
buffalo  and  the  creatures  associated  with  hot  and 
moist  countries  are  numerous  in  the  southern  rice 
lands.  In  the  colder,  northern  half  of  the  country, 
one  finds  a  fauna  of  striking  size,  richness  of  colour 
and  ferocity.  There  are  bear,  deer,  leopards,  wild 
boar,  and  smaller  animals,  but  in  Korea  the  king 
of  beasts  is  the  tiger.  This  "Mountain  Uncle" 
and  " Lord  of  the  Hills"  ever  dominates  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  natives  by  the  terror  he  inspires.  The 
shadow  of  his  craft  and  strength  lay  over  the  whole 


On  Horseback — Old  Korean  Capitals  137 

native  literature,  folk-lore  and  daily  speech,  and 
his  fame  was  great,  even  in  Japan,  until  the  foreigner, 
with  his  breech-loader,  his  cyanide  poison  and  his 
steel  traps  invaded  the  land.  Known  to  enter 
even  walled  cities,  reputed  to  have  visited  the  capital 
and  even  to  sneak  into  sentry  boxes,  to  say  nothing 
of  his  chronic  invasion  of  villages,  he  might  of  old 
be  expected  at  all  times  and  places,  but  his  range 
is  now  mainly  in  the  north. 

This  most  industrious  of  man-eaters  formerly 
so  devastated  the  land  that  the  census  of  human 
victims  ran  into  the  hundreds  yearly,  while  the  loss 
to  the  farmer  of  his  pigs  and  cattle  made  a  notable 
item  of  national  waste  and  burden-bearing.  The 
trap  of  heavy  logs,  seen  near  most  of  the  mountain 
villages,  is  usually  baited  with  a  little  pig,  and  often 
the  houses  are  surrounded  by  palisaded  enclosures 
of  sharpened  stakes  too  high  for  the  animal  to 
climb  or  overleap.  Rudely  painted  figures  of  the 
dreaded  beast  are  placed  in  the  wayside  shrines  by 
the  devotees,  whose  religion  is  one  of  fear.  On  the 
battle  flags,  under  which  the  tiger-hunters  with 
amazing  courage  faced  the  American  marines,  in 
1871,  were  prominent  the  images  of  the  rampant, 
lightning-grasping,  fire-breathing,  winged  fetich, 
showing  the  dominance  in  thought  and  actuality 
of  the  creature  that  stands  at  the  head  of  the  feline 
family.  Among  the  upper  classes  of  society  and 
government,  the  tiger  or  leopard  skin,  as  a  robe  in 
travelling,  or  as  a  rug  at  home,  is  a  mark  of  rank 
and  dignity.  Japanese  generals,  until  the  Perry 
era,  wore  sword  scabbards  of  Korean  tiger  skin. 


138       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

After  the  tiger  comes  the  leopard  that  helps  finely 
the  fur  market. 

Descending  to  the  peaceful  levels  of  life,  on  which 
are  found  brutes  which  man  has  made  to  serve 
him,  we  find  here  again  some  striking  oddities. 
The  bull,  which  in  other  countries  is  associated 
with  fierceness  and  danger  to  humanity  is,  in 
Korea,  the  gentlest  of  creatures,  as  it  is  the  strong- 
est of  burden  bearers,  yet  the  secret  of  his  meek- 
ness is  an  open  one.  There  is  a  reason  for  their 
being  "mountains  of  unconsciousness."  The  bull- 
calf  is  taken  early  from  its  mother  and  reared  in 
the  house  among  the  children,  so  that  the  docile 
creature  never  suspects  its  own  power.  Never- 
theless there  are  oxen  warranted  by  their  keepers 
"to  fight  any  brute  of  equal  weight" — although 
Korea  is  not  yet  as  civilised  as  Spain  in  this  respect, 
Cows,  as  in  Samson's  day  were  used  for  ploughing, 
as  pack  animals  and  also  for  traction,  but  not  for 
the  dairy,  the  use  of  milk  for  human  beings  being 
unknown  in  old  Korea.  Mrs.  Missionary  has  been 
known  however,  in  the  presence  of  the  calf,  with 
an  hour  of  heavy  labour,  and  much  persistence, 
to  gain  a  quart  of  milk  at  one  endeavour;  but  as  a 
rule,  the  cow  of  Korea  is  ages  distant  in  evolution 
from  her  Devonshire  or  Friesland  sister. 

Of  other  draught  animals,  apart  from  the  human 
specimens,  the  most  common  of  all,  is  the  horse, 
which  in  the  pure  native  breed  is  but  little  better 
than  a  Shetland  pony,  or  a  big  mastiff,  in  size. 
It  is  viciously  active  and  given  even  at  night  to 
the  most  variegated  noises,  besides  being  aston- 


On  Horseback — Old  Korean  Capitals  139 

ishingly  industrious  with  its  hoofs.  Then  there 
are  the  ass  and  the  donkey,  the  latter  capable  of 
almost  incredible  pneumatic  and  vocal  energy. 
Compared  with  his  amazing  blast  of  sound,  the 
automobile  signal,  the  fog-horn,  and  even  the 
locomotive  whistle  seem  tame.  The  donkey  has 
never  yet  had  a  suspicion  that  he  is,  in  classic 
fable,  "a  disgrace  to  creation,"  or  has  he  ever 
known  what  a  funny  animal  he  is.  This  is  espe- 
cially so,  when  after  having  finished  his  hot  slush 
of  boiled  beans  and  chopped  straw,  he  extends  his 
upper  lip  to  secure  the  last  bean  left  in  the  corner 
of  the  trough.  Then  he  excels  himself  in  comic 
attitude  and  facial  expression.  He  rarely  touches 
cold,  but  through  long  training  in  hygiene  accord- 
ing to  Korean  ideas,  drinks  only  hot  water. 

Among  house  pets,  the  dog  is  the  favourite. 
Hardly  a  dwelling,  in  country  or  town,  is  complete 
without  a  little  square  hole  in  the  lower  corner, 
from  which  doggy  looks  out  upon  the  world.  Be- 
sides his  traditional  faithfulness  as  the  friend  of  man, 
the  Korean  dog  must  ever  hold  himself  ready  to 
go  into  the  soup  pot,  to  supply  his  master  in  time 
of  need.  As  in  other  lands,  the  pup  must  try  his 
teeth  on  things  at  hand.  One  native  dog,  domes- 
ticated in  a  missionary's  house,  was  so  active  in 
testing  ladies'  hats,  books,  napkin  rings  and  other 
novelties,  that  he  was  named  "Chaucer" — the 
phonetic  value  of  the  famous  poet's  name  being 
thus  emphasised. 

The  Korean  cat,  though  its  tail  is  not  abbreviated, 
as  in  Japan,  is  no  household  pet.  Having  never 


140       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

attempted  to  cultivate  sufficiently  the  good  graces 
of  either  the  dog  or  the  small  boy,  and  unable  to 
win  canine  or  human  respect,  it  is  tabooed  by  the 
children  also.  By  adults,  cats  are  looked  down 
upon  with  dread,  being  classed  with  snakes  and 
vermin.  The  greatest  thing  for  a  Korean  gentlemen 
to  dread,  in  visiting  a  foreigner's  house,  is  undue 
friendliness  in  Pussy.  To  have  one's  shanks  rubbed 
and  purred  against  is  abomination,  but  to  have 
Kitty  curl  up  in  your  lap  may  cause  a  fainting  fit. 
So  feels  a  Korean.  Of  course  rats  and  mice  abound, 
and,  as  from  the  time  of  the  Philistines  and  the 
emerods  and  Israel's  golden  mice,  to  the  last  (new?) 
theory  of  bacteria-carriers,  they  are  made  to  account 
for  diseases  in  men. 

Possibly  one  ought  to  include  among  household 
pets  both  the  sparrows,  that  make  their  nests  under 
the  populous  eaves,  and  the  snakes  that  lurk  amid 
the  vines  and  roof  tiles.  These  feed  too  often  on 
the  sparrows,  but  these  little  birds  in  time  of  danger 
call  for  the  noisy  magpies,  that  peck  at  the  reptile 
till  it  beats  a  retreat.  Foreign  cats  have  been 
imported  and  bred  to  furnish  pets  for  the  missionary 
or  foreign  children  and  also  to  thin  out  the  rats  and 
mice.  The  unacclimated  and  uneducated  cat  from 
Europe,  however,  that  tries  to  stalk  a  magpie,  with 
the  idea  of  a  dinner  in  mind,  is  usually  lured  on 
to  disaster  by  this  saucy  fighting  bird.  Prominent 
in  winter  are  the  magpie's  nests  in  the  bare  tree 
branches.  In  folk-lore  this  bird  is  famous. 

With  all  these  animals,  Appenzeller  had  become 
more  or  less  acquainted  in  Soul,  but  his  long 


On  Horseback — Old  Korean  Capitals  141 

journey  outdoors  brought  him  closer  to  them.  He 
rejoiced  also  in  the  consciousness  that  in  Korea, 
Nature  is  more  kindly  in  her  usual  manifestations 
than  in  Japan,  where  the  typhoon  and  the  volcano 
often,  and  the  earthquake,  almost  daily,  bring 
terror  and  destroy  life. 

One  great  charm  of  travelling  in  Japan  and  Korea 
under  patronage  more  or  less  official,  is  the  hos- 
pitality shown  in  the  villages.  At  every  entrance, 
servants  of  the  magistrates  meet  the  new  comers, 
bidding  them  enter  and  escort  them  through  to 
the  farther  end,  there  bowing  a  polite  farewell. 

Having  crossed  the  great  Han  River,  the  two 
horsemen,  Hunt  and  Appenzeller,  entered  the 
Yellow  Sea  province  and  through  a  narrow  pass 
into  a  region  in  which  signs  of  splendour  were  and 
are  few  enough.  It  was  then  called  the  Robber 
District.  In  medieval  days  however,  this  moun- 
tainous province  was  grand  with  the  imposing 
edifices  of  Buddhism,  for  close  at  hand  was  the 
rich  city  of  Songdo  (Sunto)  the  capital  of  old  Korai. 
When  the  new  dynasty,  hostile  to  the  faith  from 
India,  was  settled  in  Soul  in  1392,  the  venerable 
monasteries  and  temples  were  given  to  the  flames. 
As  usual,  folk-lore  finds  in  the  peculiar  features 
of  familiar  vermin  historical  survivals.  Nearly 
every  great  event  in  national  history  may  be  com- 
memorated in  fantastic  legend  or  explained  by 
some  oddity  in  an  insect,  reptile  or  animal  of  some 
sort.  The  yellow  variety  of  creatures  that  love 
to  share  the  bed  with  its  human  friends,  are  found 
here  numerously  in  the  springtime  under  the  stones. 


142       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

The  story  of  them,  when  told  afar,  is  that  they  weigh 
a  half  pound  each.  As  rumour-mongers  and  decora- 
tors of  news  items,  with  power  to  propagate,  Old 
Korea  excelled  even  our  own  sensational  press, 
incredible  though  this  assertion  may  seem. 

Like  giant  sentinels,  probably  fifty  feet  high, 
looking  with  their  stony  eyes  out  of  the  ages  past 
and  looming  above  the  tops  of  trees  in  a  dense 
forest,  are  two  mir-yeks  or  collossi,  one  wearing 
the  square  and  the  other  the  round  hat.  The  male 
figure  represents  Heaven  and  the  female  figure 
the  Earth.  Both  were  chiselled  out  of  the  solid 
rock,  centuries  ago.  Probably  they  represented 
the  harmony  of  Buddhist  dogma  and  Confucian 
ethics.  In  any  event,  like  the  great  images  of 
Buddha  in  Japan,  they  were  meant  to  add  to  the 
attractions  of  a  capital  city.  Korean  Buddhism, 
then  rich  and  increased  in  goods,  basked  in  state 
favour  and  could  command  the  labour  of  myriads  of 
men.  In  the  villages,  the  humbler  representations, 
by  means  of  rudely  carved  logs  or  posts,  are  also 
those  of  the  General  of  Heaven  and  his  wife,  the 
Queen  of  Hell — an  awful  revelation  of  the  position 
of  woman  in  Korea.  Undoubtedly  in  stone  or  in 
wood,  the  greater  and  the  lesser  idols  are  ana- 
logues in  art,  however  we  may  explain  them. 

Folk-lore,  which  is  Korea's  most  powerful  voice, 
thus  gives  the  reason  of  the  existence  of  these 
images.  When  Hanyang  (Soul)  was  rising  as  a 
city,  the  jealousy  of  Songdo  was  aroused.  The 
high  mountains  around  Soul  were  so  vast  that  they 
looked  like  a  mighty  cat  ready  to  spring  upon  the 


On  Horseback — Old  Korean  Capitals  148 

mountains  near  Songdo,  which  seemed  in  lesser 
height  no  more  than  rats.  So  the  king  of  Korai 
ordered  these  guardians  of  the  city  to  be  cut  out 
of  the  rocks  to  make  faces  at  Soul  and  forever 
watch  over  Songdo — which  they  still  do. 


XIII 
In  the  North — Ping  Yang,  the  Boat  City 

THE  squalour  of  the  inns  and  the  untidiness 
of  the  sleeping  rooms,  reeking  with  smells 
and  "hardly  fit  for  a  hyena's  den"  had  the 
effect  of  enhancing  by  contrast  the  glory  of  Korea's 
natural  scenery.  Almost  all  the  pretty  places  in 
the  landscape  and  the  most  attractive  sites,  made 
beautiful  by  the  hands  of  man,  seemed  to  be  for 
the  dead.  Apparently  ancestral  dust  received  more 
attention  than  living  souls  and  bodies. 

In  the  fields  A.  saw  women,  with  babies  strapped 
on  their  backs,  labouring  alongside  the  men.  Usually, 
when  in  the  villages,  any  of  them  saw  the  foreigner, 
they  ran  as  for  dear  life — no  doubt  having  heard 
frightful  stories  of  these  foreign  ogres,  who  might 
eat  them  up,  pull  out  the  eyes  of  their  babies  for 
medicine,  and  kidnap  them  into  slavery  beyond 
sea.  At  the  smaller  streams,  the  natives  stripped 
and  in  nudity  crossed  over,  but  over  the  larger  rivers, 
they  were  ferried  in  scows  too  often  overloaded. 

At  the  village  fairs  A.  noticed  a  row  of  particularly 
ugly  women  peddling.  At  once  there  rose  in  his  heart 
a  swirl  of  indignation  at  such  a  haggish  exhibition. 
Why  should  these  women  be  so  repulsively  ugly, 
save  for  cruelty  and  oppression?  For  such  beasts 
144 


Ping  Yang,  the  Boat  City       145 

of  burden,  in  womanly  form,  there  was  no  chance 
for  improvement.  They  were  too  much  the  slaves 
of  the  pagan's  whims  to  be  pretty.  The  chivalry 
of  this  Christian  knight  rose  in  rebellion  at  the 
sight  of  what  paganism  had  produced  and  he  deter- 
mined to  smite  hard  the  cause — yet  by  prayer, 
love  and  faith.  To  him  the  religion  of  Jesus  was 
a  creator  of  beauty. 

A.  saw  many  things  which  were  then  new  or 
mysterious,  but  which  later  familiarity  made  com- 
monplace. Old  Korea  had  few  large  cities,  and 
Songdo  was  the  first  one  entered  on  this  journey. 
In  the  environs  he  saw  thousands  of  acres  devoted 
to  the  culture  of  ginseng,  which  is  grown  under 
sheds,  a  yard  or  so  in  height,  on  platforms  of  raised 
earth  held  in  place  by  slates.  The  plant  itself 
looks  much  like  a  tomato  at  the  top  and  exactly 
like  a  carrot  at  the  roots.  In  the  markets,  the  duly 
treated  glistening  white  root  sells  for  its  weight  in 
silver,  while  the  dried  red  variety  commands  gold, 
ounce  for  ounce.  To  the  constitution  of  a  foreigner, 
a  concoction  of  the  root  seems  wholly  inert,  but  the 
native  and  the  Chinaman,  who  can  easily  get  it 
as  a  staple  at  any  of  their  drug  shops,  see  in  ginseng 
a  tonic  and  at  times  a  cure-all.  It  certainly  raises 
the  temperature  of  a  Korean  patient.  The  word 
ginseng  means  man-form  and  around  its  name  and 
shape,  remotely  like  the  human  body,  legend  has 
had  a  lively  growth.  After  the  roots  have  been 
well  shrivelled  in  smoke,  many  of  the  contracted  roots 
do  look  like  dried-up  old  gentlemen,  who  have  come 
out  of  an  oven,  and  whose  toes  and  fingers  have 


146       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

run  to  strings.  It  was  once  a  fad  with  Americans, 
before  whose  hopeful  vision  prospective  fortunes, 
to  be  made  in  poor  Korea  and  rich  China,  danced 
like  a  will-of-the-wisp  to  start  ginseng  forms. 
Jack  Frost,  however,  by  his  too  frequent  and  un- 
welcome visits,  interfered,  reduced  the  dream 
castles  to  empty  air;  while  Japanese  monopolists, 
who  buy  up  the  whole  Korean  crop  and  burn  up 
whatever  surplus  might  lower  prices,  completed 
the  disillusion. 

It  was  in  the  track  of  the  Japanese  army  to  Ping 
Yang,  in  1592,  in  1894,  and  in  1904,  that  A.  was  now 
following.  In  the  trips  northward,  which  he  made 
in  later  years,  when  he  was  well  versed  in  the 
Korean  annals,  he  was  able  to  read  history  more 
clearly  from  the  landmarks,  while  the  landscape 
was  eloquent  to  him  because  of  the  human  story 
of  the  past.  Yet  the  first  keen  impressions 
made  during  this  first  journey,  were  never  for- 
gotten. 

Songdo,  the  capital  of  the  former  dynasty  appeals 
to  the  imagination  through  its  ruins.terraces,  chiselled 
stones  lying  in  confusion,  and  the  stone  bridge 
bearing  marks  on  its  railing  of  the  "  blood"  of  a 
proud  martyr-patriot,  who  was  slain  half  a  millen- 
nium ago,  because  he  refused  to  do  homage  to  the 
usurper.  Every  fresh  rain  renews  the  red  stains. 
Then  the  people,  who  dearly  love  a  myth,  point 
to  the  "blood"  and  in  wet  weather,  the  veracity 
of  the  tradition  is  not  safely  challengeable. 

The  Songdo  people  sport  huge  hats.  These  are 
of  straw  and  conical,  with  scalloped  edges,  looking 


NORTHERX  ROOF  HAT  GOING  TO  CHURCH. 


Ping  Yang,  the  Boat  City       147 

like  a  half  opened  umbrella.  To  his  amusement, 
A.  found  them  jealous  of  the  Soul  folks  and  still 
keeping  alive  their  prejudices  in  favour  of  the  old 
and  against  the  new  dynasty,  as  vigourously  as 
do  some  monarchy-loving  Frenchmen  cherish  the 
memories  of  royalty  and  aristocracy  against  the 
republic  and  things  modern 

Further  north,  on  a  promontory  above  the 
Imjin  River,  stands  a  memorial  of  the  king's  flight 
from  Soul,  in  1592,  during  the  Japanese  invasion. 
The  owner  of  the  mansion  set  it  on  fire  to  guide 
the  royal  fugitive  northward.  Now  there  is  a 
lovely  legend  clinging  to  it  like  moss  upon  a  rock, 
to  the  effect  that  long  before,  a  prophet  had  kept 
this  wooden  building  well  oiled,  in  expectation  of 
its  being  given  to  the  torch,  or  "a  great  disaster 
would  befall  the  nation."  The  conflagration  served 
its  purpose  well  and  the  king  escaped. 

Coming  in  view  of  the  white  walls  of  Ping  Yang, 
on  April  24th,  A.'s  first  impressions  were  decidedly 
favourable.  The  approach  was  through  a  long 
avenue  of  trees,  which  then  skirted  the  river  banks 
— but  which  were  all  cut  down  for  bivouac  fuel, 
by  the  Japanese  army  in  1894.  The  city,  which 
did  not  lie  "four  square  or  any  other  square," 
was  believed  in  local  superstition  to  be  boat-shaped. 
Therefore  no  one  must  dig  a  well  within  municipal 
limits,  lest  the  whole  place  founder  and  sink  like 
a  body  in  quicksand.  The  notion  reminds  one  of 
the  Dutch  land-disease  called  the  val,  or  fall.  In 
other  parts  of  Korea — the  country  which  rides 
upon  the  back  of  a  dragon — wells  must  not  be  dug 


148       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

lest  the  dragon's  back  be  lacerated  or  he  be  irritated 
and  work  disaster. 

One  of  the  streets  first  seen,  seemed  to  be  lined 
with  tablets  in  honour  of  departed  mayors  or  gov- 
ernors. As  the  foreigners  advanced,  the  crowd 
increased,  only  to  be  cuffed,  collared,  pushed  back, 
slung  around  and  stoned  by  the  soldiers  guarding  the 
two  guests.  The  etiquette  at  the  gates  of  the 
yamen  was  elaborate  and  quite  appropriate  to 
the  city  which  boasts  a  founder,  who,  as  an  ancestor, 
ante-dated  Confucius.  The  white-robed  governor 
received  the  vistors  with  vast  ceremony  and  led 
them  into  his  office,  where  the  native  notables 
sat  with  their  boots  on,  as  if  much  walking  had 
been  done.  The  same  etiquette  as  to  foot-gear 
prevailed  at  the  royal  palace  in  Soul,  where  there 
were  magnificent  distances  between  gateway  and 
interior. 

At  the  dinner,  later  on  in  the  Governor's  house, 
a  few  foreign  objects  were  visible  and  the  ticking 
of  an  American  clock  sounded  homelike.  A.  sat 
for  the  first  time  at  a  Korean  table  and  did  his  best 
to  appear  happy  and  to  recognise  that  his  host 
meant  well  in  thinking  he  was.  He  had  by  this 
time,  when  partaking  of  the  national  dish  and 
attempting  to  swallow  a  mouthful  of  kimch6,  or  red 
pepper  and  cabbage  sauce,  ceased  to  wear  the 
appearance  of  mourning  for  his  deceased  ancestors. 
At  least,  his  tears  were  not  so  visible,  despite  the 
interior  heat.  This  staple  Korean  dish — sauer- 
kraut, or  pepper  sauce,  tastes  like  a  volcano  in 
eruption  and  often  causes  involuntary  weeping, 


Ping  Yang,  the  Boat  City       149 

when  the  unwary  alien  takes  his  first  spoonful  of 
the  hot  stuff.  The  better  sort  of  Korean  pickle, 
when  flavoured  with  nuts,  spices  and  various 
fruit  or  vegetable  ingredients,  according  to  private 
receipts,  is  very  palatable  and  even  delicious  to 
foreigners,  excelling  even  the  chutney  of  India. 
The  other  edibles  at  the  Ping  Yang  feast  were 
cooler. 

Plenty  of  outsiders  dropped  in  to  look  on;  for 
privacy,  except  in  the  women's  prison-like  apart- 
ments, is  but  little  known  in  Korea.  As  in  the  day 
of  old  Japan,  no  foreigner  had  any  rights  of  shelter 
from  prying  eyes,  which  a  native  of  any  class,  age, 
or  sex  was  bound  to  respect.  At  the  inns,  every 
hole  in  the  paper  partitions,  whether  ancient, 
ragged,  or  round,  because  of  fresh  perforation  by 
a  moistened  finger,  had  a  Paul  Pry  behind  it. 
The  walls  were  as  full  of  eyes  as  the  cherubim  of 
Ezekiel.  One's  nerves  were  a  long  time  in  getting 
used  to  such  a  battery  of  peeping  Toms  and  key- 
hole Pollys.  So  also,  even  at  an  official  banquet 
the  chance,  of  seeing  an  "overseaman"  feed,  was 
too  rare  and  rich  not  to  be  improved  by  a  native. 

After  the  feast  had  well  progressed,  three  of  the 
governor's  harem  walked  in.  One  girl,  rather 
plump  and  pretty,  about  eighteen  years  old, 
smoked  a  cigar.  The  magistrate  talked  of  these 
creatures,  his  personal  property,  much  like  the 
proprietor  of  a  stockyard  of  animals  on  the  hoof, 
or  as  an  American  farmer  would  of  his  horses  or 
dogs.  Ping  Yang  was  notorious,  even  in  pagan 
Korea,  for  the  large  number  of  this  class  of  women, 


150       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

including  also  ge-sang — the  word  is  the  same  as 
that  of  geisha  in  Japan.  In  fact,  from  other  prov- 
inces, these  victims  of  lust  were  often  sent  to 
Ping  Yang,  sold  in  childhood  for  gain,  especially 
when  left  by  the  father's  death  as  poor  orphans, 
or  were  thus  punished  for  the  sins  of  their  male 
parent,  when  in  debt.  Yet  so  long  as  the  Korean 
woman  had  no  education,  no  thoughts  of  her  own 
and  was  simply  an  obeying  machine,  thought  A.,' 
such  a  state  of  affairs  would  continue.  Christian 
education  must,  sooner  or  later,  kill  this  Korean 
"institution." 

When  the  American  pioneer  inquired  about  his 
unfortunate  compatriots  on  the  schooner  General 
Sherman,  1866,  which  had  also  on  board  the  Scottish 
missionary  who  had  accompanied  them  with  the 
noble  motive  of  improving  himself  in  the  language, 
every  mouth  in  Ping  Yang  became  as  an  oyster 
closed.  Of  course,  no  one  knew  anything  about 
the  occurrence,  or  were  able  to  point  out  where  the 
affair  took  place.  The  true  account  is  given  on 
page  1 08  of  "The  Vanguard." 

All  the  streams  were  lined  with  busy  washer- 
women. On  the  day  that  the  returning  embassy 
from  China  passed  through,  the  city  was  gaily 
decorated  and  flags  and  banners  streamed  from 
large  poles.  In  the  telegraph  office  was  a  Christian 
Chinese.  A.  met  also  one  of  his  former  pupils 
from  Soul,  who  wanted  his  American  teacher  to 
begin  work  at  once  in  Ping  Yang. 

A.  visited  the  gold  and  coal  "mines."  He  found 
among  grain  fields,  holes  filled  with  water.  The 


Ping  Yang,  the  Boat  City       151 

men  who  owned  the  land  dug  out  what  they  could 
and  sold  the  mineral  and  metal  to  "the  king," 
who  is  owner  of  everything  underground.  In  later 
years  Dr.  H.  N.  Allen,  our  American  minister, 
secured  from  the  Government  a  concession  of 
mining  land.  Many  a  million's  worth  of  ore  has 
been  crushed,  washed,  or  caught  by  mercury  in 
amalgam,  or  dissolved  in  cyanide,  and  sent,  in  the 
form  of  dust  or  shining  ingots,  beyond  sea,  to  enrich 
the  already  rich  Americans.  Yet  we  have  never 
heard  of  the  Koreans  getting  up  riots,  because  of 
this  wealth  "taken  out  of  the  country."  The 
Korean  laborers  are  declared  to  be  ideal,  as  they 
are  in  Hawaii,  and  probably  will  be  so  long  as  they 
are  considered  as  merely  "cheap  labor"  and  are 
contented  with  their  low  wages.  At  one  place, 
A.  saw  the  village  idiot  the  sport  of  the  boys,  in 
another  "a  Korean  Tom  Thumb." 

The  return  homeward  was  made  without  striking 
incident,  though  the  keen  observer  was  as  busy  as 
ever  seeing  things.  The  pastoral  simplicity  of 
country  life  in  Korea  opened  to  him  a  gallery  of 
biblical  illustration,  the  customs  being  so  "oriental" 
and  characteristic  of  a  long  settled  country  ruled 
less  by  ideas  than  by  custom.  Threshing,  fanning 
wheat  for  the  barn  and  chaff  for  the  fire,  the  coming 
of  the  bridegroom,  and  the  hired  mourners  in  the 
funeral  procession,  reminded  him  of  many  a  scrip- 
ture passage.  At  noon  he  noticed  men  and  women 
in  a  corner  of  the  field  eating  their  lunch,  and  a 
bull  near  by  refreshing  himself  out  of  a  great  dish. 

On  May    16,   the  travellers  were  home  again. 


152       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

At  the  Peking  pass,  some  miles  from  Soul,  seven 
of  his  Korean  friends  met  A.  and  escorted  him  to 
his  house,  where  all  the  pupils  of  the  school  stood 
in  the  gateway  in  a  body  ready  to  greet  their 
teacher.  They  had  already  walked  out  to  the 
Peking  pass  to  meet  him,  but  being  too  early  had 
returned.  A.  was  touched  by  this  token  of  thought- 
fulness.  The  usual  question  of  the  native  children, 
to  one  returned,  was,  "Have  you  had  a  peaceful 
journey?" 

After  twenty-five  days'  absence  from  home,  his 
little  daughter  asked  who  the  stranger  was.  She 
had  doubts  as  to  the  personality  of  the  sunburned 
man  in  a  blue  flannel  shirt,  but  when  he  spoke, 
she  knew  her  father.  Opening  his  mail  he  found 
that  orders  from  New  York  meant  "full  steam  on, 
ahead."  Four  thousand  dollars  had  been  appro- 
priated in  New  York  for  a  school  building — "the 
gift  of  the  American  people  to  Korea,"  and  the  first 
edifice  of  its  kind  in  the  kingdom  should  be  a  credit- 
able piece  of  architecture  in  foreign  style.  A.  had 
wanted  this  honour  for  the  church  and  now  this 
hope  was  to  become  fruition.  He  thanked  God 
and  took  courage, 


XIV 
Housekeeping — Fun,  Fact,  and  Fancy 

MRS.  MISSIONARY  found  that  every  rose 
has    its    thorn.      When    in    her    spiritual 
pride,  she    boasted    secretly  to  herself  of 
the  advantage  she  had  with  her  glass  panes  and 
weighted  sashes   over  the  paper-windowed  houses 
of  her  neighbours,  her  conceit  was  lacerated  as  on 
a   bramble.      With  semi-Pharisaic   mind,  thinking 
her  lot  was  not  as  others,  she  sat  down  to  sew  and 
read  and,  since  now  there  were  children,  to  mend 
and  darn.     "Woman's  work,"  etc. 

At  once,  however,  the  charms  of  solitude  took 
flight  and  pride  had  a  fall.  To  every  passerby, 
and  there  were  many  ever  on  the  lookout  for  that 
"boss  novelty,"  a  foreigner,  and  especially  one  in 
skirts,  was  as  a  rare  specimen  spitted  on  a  pin  in  a 
museum.  Was  not  the  curio  made  to  be  examined  ? 
Forthwith,  wide  open  eyes  were  at  the  pane,  adult 
fans  fluttered,  wide  hat  brims  bumped,  and  chil- 
dren's noses  were  flattened  on  the  glass  as  they 
peered  in.  Even  the  saucy  magpies,  fluttering 
on  the  sill,  could  not  at  first  penetrate  the  mystery 
of  the  new-fangled  transparent  medium  so  alluring 
to  the  eye,  but  not  so  satisfactory  to  the  beak. 
Hence  the  misery  to  the  feathered  Paul  Pry  was  as 
great  as  to  a  gossip  without  news. 

153 


154       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

Inquisitiveness  centred  on  the  sewing,  reading, 
furniture,  etc.,  but  most  acutely  on  the  baby. 
What  Mrs.  Missionary  at  times  felt  like  doing  is 
not  to  be  publicly  stated.  It  is  not  for  us  to  betray 
confidence.  Nevertheless,  in  this  connection,  we 
may  state  two  facts,  viz.,  that  the  New  Testament 
word  for  temperance  means  control  of  one's,  tem- 
per. As  an  item  of  exact  history,  negative  indeed, 
but  true,  Mrs.  Missionary  did  not  dash  a  pitcher  of 
water,  either  cold  or  hot,  into  the  faces  of  the  peer- 
ing. Rather  was  she  temperate,  and,  in  true 
apostolic  style,  added  to  this  virtue  patience,  and 
even  to  patience,  godliness  and  to  godliness  brotherly 
kindliness  and  to  brotherly  kindness  charity. 
Nevertheless,  it  was  hard,  even  in  the  interest  of 
self-protection,  to  keep  the  curtains  drawn  all  the 
time.  This  is  her  later  confession.  "We  like 
these  people.  Some  of  the  workmen  seem  like  old 
friends."  Many  women  visited  the  house,  express- 
ing the  acme  of  surprise  at  the  mirrors.  %When 
the  house-father  played  and  sang  for  the  visitors. 
all  the  workmen  gathered  at  the  doors  and  windows 
to  listen  and  enjoy. 

The  shoemaker,  however,  will  not  always  stick 
to  his  last.  One  day,  a  certain  John  Chinaman  was 
passing  by.  He  had  served  on  board  a  man-of-war 
and  knew  a  little  English.  In  spite  of  some^rough 
heckling  from  the  sailors,  who,  when  their  leisure 
was  over-abundant  made  John's  life  a  burden,  he 
liked  foreigners  so  much  that  he  was  willing  to 
take  mild  risks.  He  had  hardly,  however,  fath- 
omed the  ways  of  Korean  womankind  Edging  his 


Fun,  Fact,  and  Fancy,  155 

way  up  to  the  front,  he  made  a  deep  bow  to  the 
organ,  and  then,  coolly  and  without  invitation, 
sat  down  on  Mrs.  Missionary's  private  rocking- 
chair — the  throne  of  the  American  sovereign  of 
the  house.  This  might  have  been  suffered,  in  all 
Pennsylvania  sainthood,  by  the  alien  master  or 
mistress,  but  it  was  too  much  for  the  intensity  of 
the  Korean's  loyalty  to  him.  Hardly  had  the 
Confucian  ensconced  himself  in  the  rocking-chair, 
before  that  defender  of  propriety,  the  grandma, 
who  took  care  of  the  baby,  rushed  into  the  room. 
Astounded  at  such  sacrilege,  she  pulled  up  the 
rockers  from  behind,  dexterously  deposited  John 
Chinaman  sprawling  on  the  floor,  and  then  trium- 
phantly bore  the  sacred  furniture  into  Mrs.  Mis- 
sionary's bedroom.  To  see  Great  China  thus 
humbled  before  little  Korea,  incarnated  in  a  woman 
too,  made  the  native  spectators  guffaw  with  de- 
light. Henceforth  the  amah  was  a  heroine  to  the 
whole  neighbourhood. 

Korean  help  was  good,  but  at  first  A.  imagined 
that  most  of  those  who  applied  for  employment  were 
half  starved.  Certainly  the  native  stomach  was 
capacious  enough  to  suggest  the  Mammoth  Cave 
of  Kentucky.  The  prominence  of  the  word  "eat" 
in  the  language  is  the  wonder  of  the  student,  for 
many  idioms  are  founded  on  it.  As  the  food 
supply  was  small,  it  was  necessary  to  keep  all  rations, 
hot  or  cold,  under  lock  and  key.  Nor  were  things 
good  to  eat  the  only  portable  property  that  must 
be  tied  down,  enclosed  and  watched. 

Four  servants  were  kept — tell  it  not  in  the  Gath, 


156       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

among  benighted  Americans,  who  do  not  read  or 
know  the  social  economics  of  any  country  except 
their  own — lest  they  expatiate  on  the  "extrav- 
agance" of  missionaries.  The  Japanese  cook  had 
been  brought  from  Nagasaki.  The  second  retainer, 
who,  though  forty  years  old,  was  classified  as 
"the  boy,"  was  nevertheless  the  man  of  all  work. 
The  third  in  importance  was  the  old  lady  "amah," 
who  cared  for  the  baby.  Finally  the  gate  man 
washed  and  helped  in  many  jobs.  The  hirelings 
were  paid  so  much  per  month  and  they  provided 
their  own  food.  All  four  cost  less  than  one  first- 
class  city  servant  in  the  United  States! 

Yet  the  "boy"  had  a  fall  from  grace  and  favour. 
As  jam  and  youth  are  usually  associated  all  over 
the  world  in  the  history  of  domestic  transgression, 
so  the  violation  of  the  proprieties  and  command- 
ments, by  this  adult  servitor,  came  through  his 
coveting  American  preserves.  Detected  and  dis- 
missed, he  begged  to  be  taken  back  and  was  for- 
given. His  later  record  was  stedfastly  honourable. 
The  penitent  thereafter  was  as  devoted  as  a  lover 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Missionary.  In  chasing  away  mis- 
chievous urchins  and  abiding  ever  faithful,  he  was  a 
paragon. 

He  liked  to  work  for  the  foreigners,  because 
among  them  there  was  less  caste  and  more  hu- 
manity. He  gladly  added  the  honourifics  when 
talking  to  any  of  them,  even  the  baby,  but  he  used 
a  string  of  exalted  words,  as  long  as  a  rope  of  cash, 
when  addressing  the  proprietor. 

To  be  superintendent  and  treasurer  of  the  mis- 


Fun,  Fact,  and  Fancy  157 

sion — the  latter  office  being  held  during  fifteen 
years — house,  school,  and  church  builder,  besides 
requiring  much  figuring  entailed  no  small  degree  of 
detail,  study  of  economy,  and  constant  toil  upon  A . 
Yet  a  preacher  and  translator  must  be  a  student 
also.  A.'s  daily  routine  of  work  was  arranged  with 
the  idea  of  mastering  the  language  and  thus  gain- 
ing as  soon  as  possible  the  equipment  of  the  preacher. 
None  knew  better  than  he  that  "life  is  short  and 
art  is  long"  and  that  speed  must  wait  on  thorough- 
ness, especially  in  gaining  the  power  to  preach  and 
to  translate  the  Bible.  He  aimed  to  give  five 
hours  a  day  to  the  Korean,  but  was  often  interrupted. 
"You  are  very  busy,  but  study  little,"  complained 
his  native  teacher.  Yet  many  a  day  saw  a  full 
tale,  both  of  bricks  and  straw.  He  was  in  his 
study  at  6  A.M.  He  gave  from  7 :30  to  8,  for  break- 
fast. Then  followed  family  worship  with  plenty 
of  singing — the  Korean  old  woman  getting  all 
the  books  and  chairs  ready.  An  hour  was  taken 
for  exercise.  Then  with  teacher,  pen,  and  paper, 
writing,  pronouncing  and  speaking  the  vernacular 
from  9  to  12,  these  two  "companions  of  the  ink- 
stone"  were  busy  till  the  bell  rang  for  dinner. 
Varied  work  outside  the  house  filled  the  afternoon 
hours.  The  evening  was  devoted  to  reading  and 
the  pen.  Books  were  A.'s  dear,  silent  friends. 
After  his  wife  and  baby,  he  prized  his  library,  and 
his  lists  of  books  read  by  him  shows  how  well  he 
kept  abreast  of  the  world's  thought  and  progress. 
At  this  point  in  his  life,  the  thorough  and  con- 
scientious labours  of  college  and  seminary  came 


158       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

into  play  and  habits  of  research,  as  trained  under 
Dr.  Crooks,  were  transformed  into  abiding  work. 
It  was  now  power,  even  more  than  effort,  that 
he  put  forth,  as  all  his  fellow-translators  gladly 
witnessed.  As  I  write,  a  letter  from  his  old  pastor 
in  Lancaster,  says,  "Popular  with  students  and 
professors,  he  was  known  to  have  marvelous  ability 
in  the  mastery  of  languages,  of  which  he  spoke  a 
number  fluently."  Almost  all  missionaries  with 
a  record  of  disciple-making,  whose  work  abides 
and  follows  on  after  labours  are  past,  have  been 
noted  linguists  or  teachers. 

A.  was  a  lover  of  special  days  and  seasons.  He 
admired  that  consecration  of  human  time  to  the 
Timeless  One,  which  is  shown  in  the  organisation  of 
the  Church  Year.  Hence,  without  regarding  the 
detail  of  the  Roman  ritual,  or  envying  the  people 
of  the  prayerbook,  he  always  observed  in  his  house- 
hold and  church  the  great  events  narrated  in  the 
gospel  story,  apostolic  record  and  Christian  his- 
tory, especially  those  which  set  forth  the  birth, 
resurrection  and  the  ascension  of  our  Lord,  or  re- 
called the  triumphs  of  the  kingdom.  Both  patriot 
and  Christian,  he  kept  those  days  especially  set 
apart  for  praise  and  thanksgiving  which  recall  the 
truth  that  the  hand  of  God  has  been  signally 
manifested  in  American  history.  He  was  always 
careful  to  select  the  appropriate  scripture  to  be 
read,  hymns  to  be  sung,  and  prayers  to  be  offered, 
so  as  to  make  the  worship  a  scheme  of  unity  and 
harmony. 

With  the  children,  A.  was  a  friend,  always  en- 


Fun,  Fact,  and  Fancy  159 

joyed  and  ever  welcome.  On  their  special  days, 
such  as  Christmas,  Fourth  of  July,  holiday  and 
picnic  time,  or  when  a  romp  or  a  merrymaking  was 
in  order,  he  was  with  them,  a  boy  again.  When 
the  home  was  made  desolate  and  the  new  made 
grave  left  a  gash,  both  in  the  earth  and  the  parent's 
heart,  A.  was  the  man  to  help  heal  the  sorrow  and 
lighten  the  heavy  burdens  with  true  sympathy. 

In  the  pulpit  and  on  formal  occasions  he  was 
always  dignified  as  to  dress,  manner  and  ritual, 
making  everything  as  far  as  he  had  anything  to  do 
with  it,  a  unity.  Propriety  was  with  him  the  law 
of  all  discourse.  The  spirit  of  the  old  Levitic 
ordinance  that  required  the  snow-white  lamb  and 
the  clean  heifer  to  be  without  spot  or  blemish 
was  in  him.  He  would  as  lief  have  offered  strange 
fire  on  God's  altar  as  to  have  wilfully  failed  in  those 
requirements,  which  the  Bible  and  his  conscience 
alike  demanded  him  to  fulfil  before  the  face  of 
Jehovah. 

Some  wise  missionaries,  especially  while  at  home 
on  furlough,  are  said  to  keep  two  sets  of  photo- 
graphs, one  to  show  the  pragmatic  and  propagandist 
side  of  their  life  abroad,  and  to  satisfy  inquirers  for 
knowledge.  They  keep  privately,  however,  under 
lock  and  key,  for  trusted  friends,  only,  those  pictures 
which  show  the  servants  of  the  church,  when  abroad, 
at  such  frivolous  occupations  as  garden  parties, 
picnics  or  other  rational  enjoyment  appropriate  to 
human  beings.  The  notion  still  lingers  that  the 
ideal  of  a  missionary  is  the  man  with  a  tonsure,  a 
celibate,  without  wife  or  child,  the  hermit  of  medieval 


160       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

days  with  cross  and  beads.  Not  a  few  books 
written  by  globe-trotters,  Cook's  tourists,  and  of 
people  that  can  afford  to  print  limited  and  private 
editions  of  their  travels,  to  say  nothing  of  those 
who  supply  "features"  and  correspondence  to 
sensational  Sunday  newspapers,  decry  Protestant 
comforts  and  homes,  sometimes  even  traitorously 
maligning  the  very  hosts  who  have  entertained  them 
and  caricaturing  the  hospitality  received. 

The  wisdom  of  experience  has  proved  how  benefi- 
cial, as  an  object  lesson,  is  a  Christian  home  and 
how  great  is  the  necessity  of  a  missionary's  being 
neither  a  recluse,  a  monk,  nor  yet  a  celibate,  but 
a  man  among  men,  a  champion  of  civilisation  and 
a  home-maker.  The  statistics  of  the  insane,  of 
those  who  break  down,  or  become  hardly  more  than 
semi-Christian  in  mind,  and  whose  routine  of  life 
closely  resembles  that  of  their  pagan  neighbours, 
as  compared  with  those  who,  as  a  rule,  keep  alert 
and  influential  to  the  day  of  their  resignation  or 
death,  would  show  a  damaging  verdict  against  the 
Roman  type  of  missionary  activities  and  a  result 
grandly  in  f a vour'of,.  Reformed  Christianity,  which 
makes  no  mistake  in  refusing  to  follow  the  example 
of  Buddhism,  or  of  Romanism.  In  the  literature 
of  mission  problems,  we  need  well-written  books 
discussing  with  scientific  accuracy  and  judicial 
poise  the  two  contrasting  types  of  missionary 
workers.  The  rhetoric  of  hasty  judgment  and  of 
shallow  sentimentalism  is  worthless. 

The  Roman  Catholic  and  Greek  Church  mis- 
sionary propaganda  disturbs  but  slightly  the 


Fun,  Fact,  and  Fancy  161 

paganism  of  the  old  nations.  It  hides  but  little 
leaven  in  the  social  mass,  because  it  lays  little 
stress  on  personal  sin,  and  puts  the  emphasis  on 
offenses  against  the  ritual  and  customs  of  the 
church.  It  bans  all  examination  or  challenge  of 
the  traditions  taught,  and  compels  subjective 
reception  of  the  ready-made  doctrine  and  tenets 
sent  out  from  Rome  or  Moscow.  It  has  spent 
too  much  time  in  definition  of  dogma  and  too  little 
on  diffusion  of  the  holy  scriptures.  Reformed 
Christianity,  on  the  contrary,  first  of  all,  puts 
the  Word  of  God  into  the  language  of  the  people 
and  then  insists  upon  its  study  by  the  individual. 
It  rouses  the  conscience,  provokes  thought,  chal- 
lenges hoary  iniquity,  even  though  caked  into 
custom,  and,  in  general,  recreates  civilisation. 
We  could  well  imagine  all  Asia,  and  especially 
China  or  Korea,  but  slightly  changed,  even  after 
centuries  of  Latin  Christianity.  On  the  con- 
trary, after  a  few  generations  of  the  Reformed 
faith,  the  evangelised  nation  changes  both  habits 
and  heart.  The  new  gospel  message  revolutionises 
the  home,  recreates  the  national  literature  and  art, 
and  creates  a  new  nation.  There  would  have  been 
no  new  Japan,  no  recivilised  Korea  and  no  modern- 
ised China  without  the  Protestant  missionaries. 

A  workingman  busy  on  the  scaffold  cannot  see 
the  structure  rise,  as  does  a  spectator  at  a  distance. 
When  looked  at  in  perspective,  it  is  evident  that  these 
years  of  hidden  toil,  in  the  crypt  of  Korean  Chris- 
tianity, were  as  important  as  those  of  later  and 
grander  manifestation  of  results.  However,  as 


162       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

yet,  there  was  no  stone-laying,  but  only  foundation 
digging.  "Gladly  will  I  spend  my  life  in  laying 
the  foundation  stones  of  our  beloved  church  in 
Korea,"  A.  wrote.  "Don't  look  for  a  building  yet, 
for  you  will  be  disappointed,  but  pray  for  it  and 
Methodism  will  flourish  in  the  Land  of  Morning 
Calm.  I  will  tell  you  of  an  ambition  that  I  have 
It  is  to  preach  Christ  all  over  this  Kingdom.  .  .  . 
My  term  of  enlistment  will  last  at  least  until  1910, 
or  twenty-five  years,  in  which  time  may  the  Lord 
help  me  to  know  nothing  among  these  Koreans 
save  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified.  I  believe 
the  Lord  has  sent  me  here  to  deliver  a  message — 
a  message  of  life  and  I  want  to  deliver  it  faith- 
fully. .  .  .  This  is  our  great,  our  only  work — to  save 
souls.  .  .  .  Isn't  it  a  glorious  work?  .  .  .  The 
Devil  is  pretty  well  entrenched  behind  his  works 
of  ancestral  worship,  'customs,'  licentiousness, 
etc.,  but  we  shall  not  fear  to  attack  him,  because 
we  know  in  whose  name  we  work.  We  know  the 
power  of  our  glorious  gospel."  It  came  to  pass, 
in  God's  providence  that  Appenzeller  preached  the 
gospel  to  both  the  tiger-hunters  in  the  north  and 
the  rice-growers  of  the  south  in  their  own  tongue. 

The  courage  of  this  apostle — the  original  word 
means  missionary,  and  nothing  else — was  not  that 
of  "the  blind  man  [who]  does  not  fear  a  snake." 
His  eyes  were  open,  even  if  he  were  working  as  in 
a  tunnel  under  the  East  River  bed.  "He  seized 
the  triumph  from  afar." 

He  wrote,  "It  is  a  trying  fact  that  there  is  no 
foundation  [for  the  Christian  religion]  in  Korea, 


Fun,  Fact,  and  Fancy  163 

except  the  distrust  of  Christianity,  as  represented 
by  Catholicism.  We  must  remove  the  rubbish 
of  idolatry,  superstition  and  custom.  We  must 
break  the  fallow  ground.  We  must  plough  deep 
if  we  wish  to  see  good  fruit." 

When  the  completion  of  his  dwelling  altered  from 
a  native's,  was  in  sight,  he  wrote  acknowledging 
his  own  limitations  and  perils.  "Everything  here 
has  been  new.  We  have  no  landmarks  here.  I 
suppose  we  must  blunder  for  the  benefit  of  others.  I 
have  heard  it  said, '  A  man  generally  spoils  one  house 
before  he  can  build  a  good  one.'  If  that  is  so,  I  am 
ready  for  the  second,  as  ours  is  now  nearly  ready." 

Dr.  Scranton  thus  pictures,  in  the  perspective 
of  an  eye-witness,  his  colleague.  "It  was  a  principle 
within  which  actuated  him  [A.]  never  to  spare 
himself  nor  to  refuse  work  that  came  to  his  door. 
.  .  .  Education  next  to  preaching  was  the  subject 
dearest  to  his  heart.  He  could  see  nothing  less  than 
a  university  in  Pai  Chai  College,  and  in  every  man 
who  came  under  his  instruction  he  beheld  future 
counsellors  of  State,  the  renovators  of  Korea,  the 
forces  which  were  to  bring  in  a  Kingdom  of  Right- 
eousness. He  liked  to  let  the  forces  loose  too,  and 
believed  there  was  a  spirit  working  in  them  which 
would  lead  them  to  the  truth,  and  in  line  with  healthy 
advance,  even  in  spite  of  occasional  tangents  and 
some  courses  unforseen." 

Some  further  details  of  his  life,  showing  the  habits 
of  a  successful  missionary  and  the  secret  of  personal 
power  and  the  influence  of  a  Christian  home,  may 
here  be  given  as  revealing  the  man. 


XV 
Prospecting  for  Gospel  Treasure 

CHIEF  in  the  Old  Korean  gallery  of  female 
public  characters,  which  included  slave 
women,  fortune  tellers,  demon-exorcisers 
and  inn-keepers,  stood  the  ge-sang,  that  is,  the 
accomplished  person,  the  singing  or  dancing  girl. 
The  word  ge-sang  and  the  two  Chinese  characters 
with  which  it  is  written,  are  the  same  as  for  the 
geisha  of  Japan.  She  fulfils  the  same  functions 
of  amusement  and  service  to  the  men,  on  festal 
times,  and  stands  in  about  the  same  condition  of 
unstable  equilibrium  as  to  moral  character.  Too 
often  she  is  the  victim,  slave,  sport,  and  spoil  of 
licentious  men,  or  the  trafficker  in  female  human 
flesh.  She  is  usually  more  decently  clothed,  how- 
ever, than  the  butterflies  of  the  vaudeville  stage 
in  Western  lands.  In  a  word,  having  no  freedom 
of  her  own,  her  career  being  determined  for  her  by 
others,  when  in  girlhood,  she  is  less  to  be  condemned 
than  the  damnable  social  system  and  the  panderers 
to  it  which  grind  her  into  the  moral  and  social 
waste. 

The  dances  consist  rather  more  of  posturing, 
gesture,  and  symbolism,  than  of  rapid  or  active 
motion   or   locomotion.     In   most   of   the   official 
164 


Prospecting  for  Gospel  Treasure     165 

receptions,  entertainment  by  the  ge-sang,  or  dancing 
girls,  was  offered  the  pioneer  missionaries,  when 
itinerant,  and  firmly,  while  politely,  declined. 

Many  journeys  on  horseback  did  A.  take,  in 
days  later  than  his  Ping  Yang  trip,  for  he  was  a 
true  itinerant  missionary  explorer,  mapping  out 
the  land  for  Christianity.  He  lived  to  preach  the 
good  news  of  God  in  every  one  of  the  thirteen  prov- 
inces of  Korea  and  in  the  tongue  of  the  people. 
"Brother  Jones,"  of  whom  more  than  one  traveller's 
book  speaks,  who  witnesses  that  Appenzeller 
"occupies  the  position  of  primacy  in  the  real  work 
of  founding  the  Korean  mission,"  once  rode  with 
him,  in  August  1889,  from  Soul  across  the  mountains 
southwestwardly  to  Fusan.  Now,  on  the  splendid 
railway  system  built  on  American  models,  one  can 
make  the  journey  in  eight  hours.  On  horseback, 
it  took  the  pioneers  sixteen  days.  They  had  to 
carry  along  besides  books,  those  "provisions  to 
sustain  the  mind,"  as  Commodore  Perry  recom- 
mended to  voyagers,  cot  beds,  bedding  and  changes 
of  clothing,  which  were  loaded  upon  a  packhorse. 
They  had  learned  the  wisdom  of  experience  in  native 
inns,  and  now  took  sleeping  gear  that  was  raised 
above  the  floor  and  the  parasitic  population. 
Passports  and  a  soldier  guard  of  one  man  facilitated 
the  journey  through  a  land  in  which  the  social 
levels  of  the  comfort  and  of  taste  were,  as  compared 
with  the  average  American's,  as  great  as  the  Dutch 
difference  between  dyke  top  and  low  tide. 

Every  touch  of  home  and  Christianity  was  left 
behind  at  the  gates  of  Soul.  They  rode  eastward 


166       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

through  Chung-Chong,  the  granary  province  of 
the  kingdom — the  Nai-po  of  Dallet — "the  valleys 
and  plains  of  which  seemed  to  bend  beneath  the 
weight  of  the  enormous  rice  crops  they  carried." 
At  noon  time,  chicken  and  rice,  with  heartier  food 
from  the  tins,  made  their  meal.  While  they  thus 
refreshed,  the  crowd  gathered  to  see  the  strange 
animals  feed.  No  "Van  Amburgh,"  of  college 
days,  or  Hagenbach,  in  a  menagerie  up  to  date, 
ever  drew  a  more  eager  crowd  of  gaping  small  boys 
to  enjoy  the  sight  of  the  oddities,  than  did  these 
two  Americans.  At  night,  in  fine  weather  the  turf 
was  preferred  as  a  site  for  their  cot  beds  and  stars 
for  a  canopy,  rather  than  the  fetich-hung  rafters 
of  an  inn,  and  the  hungry  population,  hidden  in  the 
floor  and  cracks  but  ever  ready  to  emerge  with  raging 
appetite. 

If  the  weather  drove  them  into  the  "mud-walled, 
mud-floored,  mud-ceiled  room  of  an  inn,  which  was 
often  so  scant  of  space  that  Appenzeller,  who  was 
a  six-footer,  could  not  stand  erect  inside,"  they 
submitted  to  circumstances.  "The  reek  of  the 
mud  would  fill  our  nostrils  and  keep  us  from  going 
to  sleep,  so  we  would  talk  together,  long  into  the 
night,  of  America  and  of  our  friends,  of  the  great 
church  and  our  leaders,  then  of  Korea,  always  of 
Korea — the  Korea  we  then  saw,  non-Christian 
and  apparently  hopeless  and  locked  in  the  sleep 
of  centuries.  Then  we  would  venture  to  talk  of  a 
new  Korea,  which  we  did  not  see  as  yet — a  Korea 
possessing  that  gem  of  priceless  value — the  gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ.  .  .  .  Those  early  days  .  .  .  were 


Prospecting  for  Gospel  Treasure     167 

great  days  in  which  to  dream  of  the  coming 
glory." 

The  mountain  ranges  increased  in  altitude,  one 
overtopping  the  other,  as  they  neared  the  eastern 
bounds  of  the  province  of  Pure  Loyalty.  In  one 
village  the  people  were  inhospitable — that  is, 
they  feared  that  these  foreigners,  because  travelling 
under  government  auspices,  might  make  requisition, 
without  settling  their  bills — according  to  a  playful 
habit  too  common  with  the  native  gentry.  There 
were  five  arguments,  however,  against  their  pushing 
on  to  the  next  village  that  night.  These  arguments 
were,  darkness,  the  late  hour,  hunger,  weariness 
and  sleepiness.  In  an  empty  stall  in  the  stable 
and  with  only  a  straw  curtain  between  man  and 
horse,  they  set  up  their  cot  beds  and  snatched 
repose. 

The  city  of  Wonju,  when  first  seen,  appeared  like 
a  gem  in  the  gift-laden  hands  of  a  giant.  It  lay 
nestling  in  an  amphitheatre,  in  front  of  a  rock  screen 
of  mountains,  then  purpling  in  the  late  afternoon 
shadows.  A  massive  gateway  guarded  the  entrance 
to  the  main  street,  up  which  two  men  rode  to  the 
Governor's  office.  As  from  hives  of  bees,  the  people 
swarmed  out  of  their  houses.  The  buzzing,  excited 
crowd,  driven  by  curiosity  to  look  at  the  strangers, 
were  held  back  only  by  the  guards  at  the  gate. 
With  great  courtesy,  the  magistrate,  who  in  Soul 
had  learned  of  the  imperial  favour  so  generously 
shown  to  the  foreign  teachers,  gave  them  welcome 
and  gladly  assigned  to  his  guests  a  large  pavilion. 

The  first  joyful  feeling  of  the  Americans  was 


168       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

that  of  privacy,  but,  as  the  minutes  trailed  after 
each  other,  so  the  favoured  friends  of  the  guards, 
who  had  kept  the  crowd  back,  surged  in.  The 
numbers,  counted  at  intervals,  as  the  hungry  men 
waited,  were  three,  ten,  thirty,  a  hundred,  three 
hundred,  with  noise  and  a  confusion  most  unmilitary. 
Eating  had  to  be  done  before  a  battalion  of  eyes. 
As  the  hours  passed  and  the  time  for  sleep  drew 
near,  the  crowd  increased.  No  such  entertain- 
ment as  that  of  seeing  how  foreigners  went  to  bed 
had  ever  been  offered  in  Wonju  and  the  mob  pro- 
posed to  learn,  and  be  able  to  tell,  how  it  was  done. 
For  the  Americans,  solitude  suddenly  took  on  all  the 
charms  that  sages  have  seen  in  her  face.  Invita- 
tions and  commands  to  the  guards,  and  even  an 
extra  police  force,  despatched  by  the  governor, 
and  their  words,  remonstrances,  and  shouts,  were 
in  vain.  It  became  ultimately  necessary  for  the 
Governor's  men  to  collar  each  spectator  and  by 
main  force  dump  him  out  of  doors. 

"The  next  day  was  Sunday.  There  were  no 
native  Christians  in  Wonju  and  it  was  a  lovely  but 
very  sacred  service,  which  Appenzeller  and  I  held 
together,"  wrote  Jones,  who  adds,  "Koreans  are 
always  gentle,  and  though,  in  the  intensity  of  their 
curiosity,  they  sometimes  forgot  what  is  due  to  a 
stranger,  they  soon  recovered  and  being  past 
masters  in  the  art  of  generous  and  kindly  hospitality, 
they  made  full  amends  for  the  first  discomfort 
caused  us." 

Interviews  with  the  governor,  during  which  the 
purpose  of  this  "apostolic  committee"  of  two  was 


Prospecting  for  Gospel  Treasure     169 

fully  explained,  paved  the  way  for  the  ultimate 
"messengers  of  the  new  life  residing  permanently 
among  the  people." 

To-day  Chung-Chong  is  a  home  of  Christians 
and  a  centre  of  evangelistic  and  educational  activity. 

In  the  ups  and  downs  of  a  traveller's  life  in  old 
Korea,  A.  enjoyed  the  fun  when  it  was  possible 
to  extract  any  out  of  the  situation.  He  might 
joke  about  eating  millet — the  staple  diet  of  the 
country  folks — but  the  operation  of  deglutition 
was  much  like  earthquakes — too  serious  to  laugh 
over  while  in  process.  He  never  got  wholly  used 
to  it,  however  frequent  the  repetition.  One  victim 
declared  that  the  boiled  paste  had  the  taste  of  so 
much  court  plaster,  and  that  it  was  equally  difficult 
to  secure  its  descent.  A.'s  own  receipt  for  successful 
swallowing  was  after  the  Washingtonian  maxim — 
"In  time  of  peace  prepare  for  war."  It  was,  to 
eat  a  scant  dinner,  travel  for  hours  up  hill  in  a  cool 
valley,  then  mix  with  boiled  potatoes.  By  summon- 
ing to  one's  aid  an  iron  will  and  letting  the  imagina- 
tion play  on  distant  things  congenial,  one  could 
force  the  poultice-like  stuff  down.  In  spite  of  all 
aid  of  the  intellect  and  imagination,  however,  the 
American  palate  and  stomach  rebelled. 

At  times  he  found  that,  in  the  south  as  well  as  in 
the  north,  the  inn-keeper  was  a  woman — not  neces- 
sarily a  Tartar,  but  only  a  Korean.  The  whole 
array  of  men,  other  women,  children  and  animals, 
and  even  the  inanimate  place  itself  seemed  to  bow 
down  before  her,  like  the  eleven  sheaves  in  Joseph's 
dream,  the  edge  of  her  voice  needing  no  hone  to 


170       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

sharpen  it — "the  only  edge  tool  that  grows  sharper 
by  constant  use.  .  .  'as  wrote  the  bachelor, 
Washington  Irving.  "She  greeted  each  coming 
guest,"  said  A.  "as  if  he  were  her  brother  returned 
from  a  long  sojourn  afar,  but  her  farewell  was  as 
to  an  ordinary  person." 

In  the  native  hotels,  apart  from  the  ignorance 
from  which  the  guest  must  suffer  as  to  whether  a 
small-pox  patient  had  slept  in  the  same  room  dur- 
ing the  single  night,  or  whole  week  previous,  there 
was  vexation  from  armies  of  sleep-destroying  biters, 
stingers,  suckers  and  singers,  equipped  with  gimlets 
and  tools  for  puncturing  the  human  skin  and  for 
extracting  and  drawing  human  blood.  Their  in- 
genuity, which  seemed  at  times  almost  human  and 
even  diabolic,  made  one  almost  prefer  Darwin's 
doctrine  of  the  struggle  for  life  and  the  survival  of 
the  fittest,  to  the  theology,  or  teleology,  which 
teaches  that  "whatever  is  is  right."  Even  a  twelve- 
month after  the  Chemulpo  variety  of  pulex  irritans 
had  feasted  upon  and  scarred  one  of  her  darlings, 
Mrs.  Missionary  wrote:  "It  is  literally  true  that 
he  still  bears  the  marks  of  last  year's  conflict  with 
fleas,  while  at  Chemulpo."  Other  practical  studies 
in  the  entomology  of  imported  specimens,  occa- 
sionally found  on  the  children,  need  not  be  detailed. 

One  thing  is  certain  that  without  its  modern 
accompaniments  of  soap  and  insect  powder,  Chris- 
tianity, even  in  Korea,  is  apt  not  only  to  disappoint 
those  who  there  labour  and  wait,  suffer  and  are 
strong,  but  may  even  give  rise  to  such  sweeping 
generalisations  as  that  made  by  a  tourist  professor, 


Prospecting  for  Gospel  Treasure     171 

who  asserted  that  he  saw  "thousands  of  church 
members,  but  not  one  Christian."  Would  that 
all  we  hint  at  were  memories  and  dream  stuff, 
but  it  is  certain  that  true  Christianity  and  the 
filth  on  which  vermin  feed  have  no  concord.  One 
or  the  other  must  go. 


XVI 

The  Monopoly  of  Letters 

HUMANITY,  in  its  eternal  march  and  headed 
by  its  dreamers,  is  ever  trying  to  discover 
a  Utopia,  where  all  perfections  are  realised 
and  the  miseries  of  life  are  over.  From  Plato  to 
Harrington,  from  Plockhoy,  "father  of  modern 
socialism,"  with  his  seventeenth  century  colony 
on  Delaware  Bay,  to  the  latest  attempts  to  actualise 
the  same  dream  in  Milwaukee  and  Schenectady, 
the  experiment  is  tried  with  undying  hope.  As  a 
rule,  the  farther  off  in  time  and  geography,  for  the 
location  of  Utopia,  the  better  for  the  illusion,  even 
as  the  pot  of  gold  lies  under  the  rainbow  that  keeps 
moving  with  us.  The  medieval  Buddhists  placed 
their  Pure  Land  of  Bliss  in  inaccessible  Thibet, 
while  Spaniards  chased  shadows  in  the  valleys  of 
the  unmapped  Mississippi  and  the  Missouri. 

In  the  eighteenth  century,  deists,  sceptics  and 
other  enemies  of  revelation  made  of  China  a  weapon 
of  polemics.  To  beat  those  who  hefd  to  historic 
Christianity,  they  pictured  the  Chinese  as  a  nation 
of  scholars.  Their  idea  was,  to  show  that  the 
civilisation  of  Europe  was  not  based  on  the  Bible. 
"Behold  a  nation  more  learned  than  ours,"  they 
cried,  "in  which  Jesus  and  Isaiah  are  names  un- 
heard of." 

172 


The  Monopoly  of  Letters         173 

When  knowledge  of  the  actual  facts  revealed  the 
truth  that  not  ten  per  cent  of  the  Chinese  people 
can  read  a  book,  though  a  much  larger  proportion 
may  know  more  or  less  of  the  characters,  this 
fancy  picture  of  China  faded,  and  the  whole  argu- 
ment thus  based  fell  to  pieces  like  cracked  crockery. 
Of  the  issue  of  the  Spaniard's  dreams  laid  in  golden 
America,  with  its  fountains  of  youth,  the  Seven 
Cities  of  Cibola,  the  Antilles,  El  Dorado,  or  the 
Gilded  Man,  etc.,  we  who  live  on  the  continent 
where  the  census  figures  and  Geological  Reports 
are  regularly  printed  and  Professor  Bandelier 
lives,  know  the  reality,  for  our  eyes  have  seen  it. 

So  there  have  been  rocket-like  tourists  in  Soul, 
who,  leaping  to  conclusions  from  seeing  thousands 
of  white-robed  "literary  men"  in  the  capital,  have 
exploded  in  the  home  newspapers  showers  of 
panegyric  and  clouds  of  mis-impressions.  These, 
as  brilliant  and  as  permanent  to  their  readers  as  the 
air-cascades  of  fire,  or  the  two-minute  dazzle  of 
green  stars,  are  as  deluding  as  the  dust  or  rocket- 
sticks,  do  some  harm.  In  the  capital  there  are 
indeed  thousands,  possibly  a  myriad  of  "literary 
men" — including  hangers-on,  or  "spongers,"  but 
who  and  what  are  they?  What  is  a  literary  man 
in  Cho-sen? 

Until  recently,  with  us,  "the  scholar  in  politics" 
was  supposed  to  be  a  rarity.  Not  till  1 8  5  7 ,  was  there 
a  professorship  of  American  history  in  any  college 
in  the  United  States,  while  even  the  study  of  the 
general  story  of  the  world's  development  was  hardly 
a  serious  part  of  the  student's  curriculum.  Even 


174       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

the  idea  of  a  knowledge  of  history  being  a  necessary 
preparation  for  politics  was,  to  say  the  least,  not 
a  popular  notion. 

In  Korea,  however,  the  routine  of  studies,  learning 
and  personal  culture  was  vitally  associated  with 
government  employment.  "Party  politics"  meant 
simply  partisanship  and  spoils.  Such  a  thing  as 
literary  culture  for  its  own  sake  was  not  wholly 
absent,  but  it  was  very  rare.  The  aim,  from  the 
beginning,  was  pelf  and  power.  The  path  of  learn- 
ing was  supposed  to  carry  one  far  on  the  high  road 
to  fortune  and  to  royal  favour. 

Hence,  while  there  were  private  schools,  in 
hundreds  of  towns  and  villages  in  Korea,  there 
was  no  such  thing  as  a  system  of  popular  education. 
Men  who  failed  to  pass  the  examinations  or  to 
secure  office  usually  acted  as  the  teachers.  Only 
a  few  mats,  a  bundle  of  switches,  a  set  of  the  more 
elementary  Chinese  classics,  with  inkstones,  brush- 
pens,  and  coarse  paper  copy-books  were  needed  for 
teacher  and  scholar.  The  first  thing  learned  was 
the  sound  of  the  characters,  each  pupil  bawling  it 
out  to  himself,  while  absorbing  knowledge,  so  that 
a  class  at  work  reminded  one  of  bedlam.  One  could 
hear  a  school  long  before  he  came  to  it.  To  learn 
to  recognise,  pronounce  and  write  the  ideographs 
formed  the  first  process  in  education.  To  construe 
into  sentences  and  read  the  text,  and  then  to  trans- 
late into  Korean  was  the  order  of  study.  Recita- 
tion, discussion,  explanation,  appreciation  of  the 
texts  came  later.  An  advanced  course  meant  the 
writing  of  verses,  poetry,  or  rather  the  metrical 


The  Monopoly  of  Letters         175 

models  of  style.  Then  followed  the  writing  of 
essays,  almost  wholly  literary.  Literary  ability 
meant  the  elegant  use  of  other  men's  thoughts  and 
words  of  two  thousand  or  more  years  ago.  A 
"good"  essay  was  appraised  according  to  the  skill 
of  its  composer  in  making  a  mosaic  of  choice  passages, 
or  quotable  felicities,  culled  from  the  ancient  Chinese 
masters.  Anything  like  originality  was  scouted 
as  impiety.  In  a  word,  Chinese  models  were  exclu- 
sively and  slavishly  followed. 

In  our  modern  days,  when  literary  ventriloquism 
is  almost  a  fad,  and  men  born  in  Christendom  try 
to  voice  the  "Oriental's"  feelings  by  writing  such 
books  as  "Letters  from  a  Chinese  Mandarin," 
for  example,  an  expert  quickly  detects  the  goat's 
hair  on  the  hand  of  the  supplanter,  of  the  would- 
be  Oriental  Esau,  who  seeks  the  blessing  of  success. 
The  absence  of  this  trick  of  literary  marqueterie 
or  Chinese  mosaic  work,  to  say  nothing  of  the  alien 
cast  of  thought  indicating  a  mind  not  stretched  on 
the  Confucian  rack,  betrays  in  every  case  the 
foreign  writer. 

In  Korea,  a  few  students  after  graduation  kept 
up  their  own  study,  advanced  further  in  the  Chinese 
literature  and  scanned  also  the  commentaries  and 
general  literature.  They  met  also  congenial  friends 
in  discussing  and  writing  on  themes  that  showed 
literary,  economic,  or  political  expansion  of  ideas 
and  application  to  contemporary  problems.  Learned 
sages  or  professors  were  invited  to  preside  over 
their  deliberations  and  not  a  few  of  these  elderly 
persons  won  fame  in  this  way.  This  custom  of 


176       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

assembly,  in  temples  or  places  famed  for  natural 
scenery,  for  the  purpose  of  poetry-writing,  or 
debate  on  grave  themes  in  ethics  and  philosophy, 
is  an  old  one.  It  was  in  such  a  company,  gath- 
ered for  literary  dalliance,  during  ten  days  in  the 
winter  of  1777,  that  Christianity,  through  tracts 
brought  from  Peking,  was  first  made  known  in 
Korea  and  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  the 
peninsula  took  its  beginnings. 

So  far  the  immaterial  side.  From  the  early  part 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  civil  service  examina- 
tions were  established  in  Korea  and  became  an 
"institution"  both  in  the  national  and  provincial 
capitals.  At  stated  times,  from  all  over  the  land, 
young  and  old  men  came  up  to  the  capital  to  try 
their  fortune.  All  roads  lead  to  Soul  and,  in  them, 
the  single  student,  the  couple  or  the  trio,  from 
hamlet  or  village,  or  the  delegation  of  a  score  or 
more  from  the  towns,  with  their  attendants,  made 
the  roads  lively,  varying  the  monotony  of  the  con- 
stant string  of  bulls,  ponies,  pedlars  and  pack- 
horses.  They  filled  the  inns  on  the  way  and  added 
to  the  bustle  of  the  capital.  As  a  rule  they  formed  a 
hilarious  and  often  boisterous  crowd.  The  larger 
companies  had  banners  inscribed  with  their  names 
or  that  of  the  places  whence  they  came.  These, 
when  grouped,  or  standing  alone,  above  the  great 
assemblage  of  thousands,  added  to  the  picturesque- 
ness  of  the  scene.  Sometimes  royalty  opened  in 
person  the  ceremonies  of  the  Quagga,  or  public 
examinations,  which  were  held  in  the  enclosure 
back  of  the  palace,  the  king  standing  with  the 


The  Monopoly  of  Letters         177 

group  of  official  examiners  on  a  platform  raised 
above  the  crowd  and  screened  by  an  awning  from 
the  sun's  rays. 

The  themes  were  then  given  out,  and,  after 
separating,  the  contestants  wrote  their  essays, 
which,  when  completed  and  tied  in  a  certain  way, 
were  thrown  into  a  common  receptacle,  from  which 
the  judges  took  them,  and  after  reading,  made 
public  their  award.  The  disappointed  ones  marched 
home  very  much  as  they  had  come,  but  upon  the 
victors,  honours,  not  always  welcome,  were  showered. 
They  were  treated  to  rough  horse-play,  which  was 
meant  in  compliment.  Mounted  on  a  pony, 
escorted  by  hilarious  friends  and  musicians,  the 
baccalaureate  made  his  calls  on  patrons,  relatives 
and  high  officers.  For  a  few  hours  the  candidate 
floated  on  a  sea  of  glory.  Then  followed  the 
"hazing,"  "ragging,"  or  "initiation"  and  forms  of 
misery,  which  the  human  animal  so  delights  in 
inflicting  upon  his  fellows.  Daubs  of  ink  on  the 
candidate's  face  were  followed  by  handfuls  of  rice 
flour  thrown  on  the  blackamoor.  The  victim's 
purse  and  patience  were  alike  taxed  heavily.  At 
home,  one's  native  birthplace  was  alive  with  flags 
and  signs  of  joy  and,  usually,  the  honours  without 
the  horrors,  were  showered  upon  the  candidate 
who  had  brought  luck  and  fame  to  the  village. 

Despite  all  that  can  be  said  of  the  Confucian 
ethics  and  ancient  stock  of  ideas,  centuries  of 
experience  have  proved  that  they  are  hardly  of  the 
sort  necessary  to  equip  a  man  for  social  life  in  the 
world's  family,  or  to  organise  and  carry  on  a  modern 


178       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

state,  or  to  make  what,  in  decency  or  accuracy, 
can  be  called  a  home,  where  both  halves  of  the 
race  are  held  in  equal  honour.  The  Civil  Service 
Examinations  in  Korea,  as  well  as  in  China,  failed 
to  produce  men  able  to  cope  with  the  new  problems 
suddenly  thrust  upon  the  nation,  while  in  typical 
personal  conduct,  the  strict  Confucian  was  usually 
a  petty  tyrant  at  home,  a  bribe-taker  and  venial 
pedlar  of  justice  at  the  yamen,  besides  being  a 
terror  to  the  industrious  and  a  devastator  of  the 
savings  of  the  well-to-do.  Such  an  erudite  ignoramus, 
while  in  office,  was  usually  the  patron  of  low  women 
for  his  own  lust  and  sorceresses  for  his  superstition. 
In  short,  he  was  a  pillar  in  the  whole  system,  of 
demonology  and  injustice,  that  made  either  national 
safety  or  prosperity  impossible.  Added  to  this, 
the  government  officer  was  apt  to  carry  his  assump- 
tion of  personal  dignity  to  an  extreme  of  theatrical 
absurdity,  that  to  a  foreigner  made  opera  boufle 
seem  tame. 

The  education  which  the  American  pioneers, 
led  by  Appenzeller,  incarnated,  was  antipodal. 
It  might  not,  in  all  respects,  show  at  once  any 
subtle  harmony  with  the  Korean  temperament, 
but  it  began  instantly  to  supply  a  crying  need  and 
to  minister  to  the  mental,  social  and  political 
diseases  of  the  nation.  It  taught  the  pupil  to 
think.  It  transferred  the  emphasis  of  training 
from  the  memory  to  the  judgment.  It  transformed 
sight  into  insight.  It  taught  pupils  to  inquire 
into  causes  and  master  in  practice  the  eternal  law 
of  cause  and  effect.  It  put  a  premium  on  manliness 


The  Monopoly  of  Letters         179 

and  chivalry.  It  did  not  encourage  the  bully  to 
domineer  at  home  over  women,  children  and  a  few 
half-starved  servants.  It  honoured  industry  and 
set  value,  in  both  rewards  and  honours,  upon 
honest  toil,  even  with  the  hands.  Its  inevitable 
result  must  be  in  time  to  pull  down  the  entire 
system  of  popular  demonolatry  and  to  curtail 
and  bring  to  ridicule  the  whole  yang-ban  principle 
of  privilege,  including  the  slavery  of  women  and  the 
degrading  ancestor  worship,  as  well  as  that  great 
edifice  of  corruption  and  indirection  called  the 
Government,  which  meant  ruling  the  people  with- 
out public  law — working  them  for  what  it  was 
worth — a  one-man  system  that  cursed  twelve 
millions  of  people. 

Yet  the  "institution"  of  Civil  Service  examina- 
tions fell  by  its  own  weight,  and  long  before  foreign 
ideas  of  education  could  attack  or  undermine  it. 
Corruption,  bribery,  forgery  and  favouritism  had 
so  weakened  it  into  decay,  that  it  was  ready  to 
pass  away,  as  soon  as  treaties  were  made.  It  was 
as  rotten  and  moribund  as  was  Japan's  feudalism 
in  the  age  of  Perry  and  Harris. 

Appenzeller  saw  the  passing  away  of  the  system  of 
Literary  Examinations,  the  change  in  aristocratic 
learning  and  its  abolition  as  a  monopoly  and  the 
new  spirit  of  democracy  taught  in  the  republic 
of  God  ushered  in  through  the  gospel. 

It  is  now  time  to  pass  from  this  view  of  the 
Korean  world  of  letters  to  see  how  the  missionaries 
changed  monopoly  into  democracy  and  to  note 
how  a  consecrated  servant  of  Christ  mastered  the 


180       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

tongue  and  writing  of  the  people,  before  whom  he 
was  to  spread  the  feast  and  to  whom  he  was  to 
break  the  bread  of  life,  with  voice  and  pen.  In 
place  of  young  men  crammed  with  Chinese  erudi- 
tion of  ages  gone  he  saw  hundreds  of  teachers 
equipped  for  modern  life  trained  under  his  own 
eye  in  the  Hall  for  the  Rearing  of  Useful  Men, 
while  tens  of  thousands  of  alert  youth  and  inquiring 
adults  were  informed  concerning  the  world  and 
humanity  and  stimulated  to  take  nobler  part  in 
the  uplift  both  of  their  own  people  and  the  race, 
for  whose  salvation  Jesus  gave  his  life. 

The  year  1888  was  checkered  with  events  odd  and 
strange.  A.  started  on  another  of  those  many 
tours  on  horseback,  by  which  in  time  he  visited 
every  one  of  the  thirteen  provinces  and  scores 
of  the  (360)  magistracies.  The  foundations  of 
the  great  French  Roman  Catholic  Cathedral  in 
Soul  were  laid,  and  when,  in  addition  to  the  im- 
posing area,  it  was  known  at  Court  that  this,  to  be 
not  only  the  finest,  but  also  the  loftiest  building 
in  the  capital,  would  actually  overtop  and  over- 
look the  palace,  the  alarm  and  terror  became 
pitiable.  In  Asiatic  countries,  including  Japan, 
in  which  Chinese  ideas  rule,  it  is  considered  abom- 
inable to  have  the  imperial  ruler's  dwelling  looked 
down  upon.  The  Korean  Government  had  already 
given  notice  that  no  "storied"  dwellings  must  be 
erected  near  the  palace  in  the  foreign  quarter. 

Like  grizzly  bears  on  a  railway  track,  scowling 
and  growling  at  the  coming  locomotive,  the  officials 
at  Court  prevailed  upon  the  King  to  issue  an  order 


The  Monopoly  of  Letters         181, 

to  stop  all  singing  in  the  schools  and  to  recall 
Messrs.  Appenzeller  and  Underwood  from  their 
travels  to  the  North.  Nevertheless  the  cathedral 
was  erected  and  dedicated  and  the  work  of  civilisa- 
tion and  the  gospel  went  on.  In  time,  even  the 
church  tunes  sounded  like  real  music. 

Almost  as  comical  as  this  hysteria  concerning 
cathedral  and  itinerants,  was  the  "war"  caused  by 
the  alleged  connection  in  the  minds  of  the  supersti- 
tious of  Soul — some  200,000  of  them — in  1888, 
between  photographs  and  baby's  eyes.  It  caused 
the  foreigners  in  the  city  more  anxiety  than  either 
the  Chinese  or  Russian  wars,  inasmuch  as  a  mob  is 
far  worse  than  an  army.  As  neither  nitrate  of 
silver  nor  the  application  of  its  chemical  properties, 
as  developed  by  Daguerre  or  Draper,  were  then 
known  in  Soul,  the  old  Chinese  superstition  that 
"those  that  look  out  of  the  windows,"  or  the 
"pupils,"  seen  in  the  bright  eyes  of  babies  or  children, 
must  be  the  "medicine"  used  to  produce  photo- 
graphs, burst  into  explosion.  So  excited  did  the 
populace  become  and  so  well  grounded  was  the 
fear  of  the  violence,  of  the  mob,  that  had  previously 
fired  legation  buildings,  murdered  scores  of  Japan- 
ese, and  left  their  corpses  unburied  in  the  streets 
for  dogs  to  devour,  that  American,  British,  French, 
and  German  marines  were  hurried  from  the  war 
ships  at  Chemulpo  to  the  capital.  This  cooled 
off  the  mischief  makers.  The  sleepless  nights  and 
anxious  days  of  the  missionaries  ended  and  the 
"baby  war"  passed  into  history. 


XVII 
Mastering  the  Language 

THE  mind  of  a  people  is  in  its  speech.  Its 
literature  is  the  photograph  of  its  thought 
and  a  mirror  of  its  life.  The  true  missionary 
quickly  perceives  that,  until  he  knows  the  native's 
inner  thoughts  and  can  express  these  and  his  own, 
in  the  language  of  the  land,  he  is  as  Samson  shorn. 
He  cannot  employ  his  own  God-given  powers,  but 
is  like  one  blind  and  grinding  vainly  in  the  prison 
house.  When  able  both  to  think  and  to  talk  in  the 
new  vernacular,  he  realises  both  deliverance  and 
vision.  The  outburst  of  praise  in  the  psalm  "The 
Lord  looseth  the  prisoner.  The  Lord  openeth 
the  eyes  of  the  blind"  has  then  new  meaning  to 
him,  for  he  feels  its  truth.  To  be  able  to  interpret 
with  the  people  and  to  the  people's  eyes  and  ears 
in  catching  their  sounds,  in  reading  their  writing 
and  in  correlating  their  words  and  action,  makes 
him  a  master  teacher.  If  to  this,  he  has  had  some 
training  in  pedagogy,  or  is  a  natural  instructor,  his 
usefulness  is  doubled.  Not  every  scholar  can  teach, 
even  though  he  have  as  many  letters,  of  degrees 
awarded,  after  his  name  as  a  kite-tail  has  bobs. 

What  from  first  to  last  most  troubled  the  man  from 
the  democratic  Occident  and  the  freedom  of  America 

182 


Mastering  the  Language          183 

was  the  elaborate  and  perplexing  system  of  honour- 
ifics.  Such  a  hedge  of  terminology  revealed  at  once 
that  principle  of  subordination  which  rules  society 
in  "the  three  countries" — moderate  in  China, 
exaggerated  in  Korea,  and  carried  to  the  extreme 
of  absurdity  in  Japan.  Even  in  the  family  there 
is  no  pure  simple  word  for  brother  or  sister,  but 
only  for  older  or  younger  in  subordination.  Much 
of  Occidental  literature,  folk-lore  and  romance  is 
unintelligible  to  a  Korean,  because  of  this  apparent 
absence  of  social  gradations.  Instead  of  being 
founded  on  love  and  affection,  on  a  basis  of  equality 
that  may  be  called  horizontal,  the  social  structure 
in  Chinese  Asia  is  built  on  perpendicular  lines.  It 
is  the  structure  of  government  and  law,  the  creature 
of  edicts  and  regulations,  the  crust  of  custom,  rather 
than  a  true  union  of  love  and  mutual  affection. 
There  is  no  home,  as  Christendom  understands 
that  term.  Even  the  words  "brother"  and  "sis- 
ter" have  by  no  means  the  sanctions,  the  depth, 
and  the  train  of  associations  that  they  have  in 
Christendom.  What  can  "mother"  mean,  when 
the  head  of  the  house  keeps  a  harem? 

It  is  certain  that  the  chief  cause  of  the  large 
mental  freedom,  intellectual  fertility  and  general 
progress  of  European  races  lies  in  the  fact  that  early 
in  their  history  they  dropped  ancestor  worship, 
leaving  that  archaic  institution  to  savages  and  the 
semi-civilised.  There  is  no  greater  clog  to  the 
mental  and  spiritual  advancement  of  that  part  of 
Asia  governed  by  Chinese  ideas,  even  Japan,  than 
ancestor  worship.  It  strangles  before  birth  the 


184       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

very  idea  of  home.  In  practice,  it  degrades  a  whole 
sex,  fetters  thought  and  keeps  the  eyes  of  the  mind 
ever  set  backward  instead  of  forward. 

In  Korea,  as  in  Japan,  one  must  have  his  language 
not  only  correct  in  the  choice  of  vocabulary,  but 
in  the  use  of  terminations,  for  these  raise  in  honour 
or  sink  to  dishonour,  the  individual  addressed. 
These  verbal  branding  irons  are  continually  found 
necessary.  In  order  to  insult  a  person,  to  use  "low 
talk,"  to  deride,  it  is  not  necessary  to  heave  curses 
or  call  bad  names — though  the  Korean  is  amazingly 
rich  in  vile  and  opprobious  terms.  All  that  need 
be  done,  to  beat  your  victim  with  a  club  of  words, 
is  to  depress  your  terminology  to  the  level  of  the 
ditch.  So,  also,  if  one  would  honour  by  his  address 
those  who  are,  or  whom  he  esteems  to  be  above 
him,  if  he  would  pat  on  the  back,  throw  bouquets, 
applaud,  encore,  bestow  wreaths,  set  crowns  and 
award  gold  medals,  jewelled  decorations  or  academic 
degrees,  as  it  were,  he  has  only  to  lengthen  out 
his  words  at  their  tails.  Honour  and  shame,  as 
verbally  bestowed  in  Korea,  are  complimentary 
or  caudal  affairs.  The  same  rule  of  address  to  the 
living  applies  with  greater  force  to  the  ancestors 
of  the  person  addressed,  for  speech  is  even  more 
potent  for  blessing  or  cursing,  if  directed  to  the  dead. 
This  is  because  the  Korean  mind  still  lingers  in  the 
graveyard  and  the  fear  of  ghosts  is  the  chronic 
insanity  of  eastern  Asia. 

Of  course  the  common  people  employ  dialect, 
idiom,  and  pronunciation  in  a  style  far  removed  from 
those  made  use  of  by  the  scholar,  or  person  of  cul- 


Mastering  the  Language          185 

ture.  It  is  often  noticed  that  though  American 
children  of  foreign  parents  born  in  Asia  pick  up 
unconsciously  and  artlessly  speak,  without  visible 
effort,  the  lingo  of  the  country — sometimes  to  the 
envy  and  despair  of  their  studious  parents,  yet  they 
rarely,  unless  they  afterwards  become  critical 
students,  master  the  refined  and  standard  language. 
Having  learned  the  colloquial  from  their  illiterate 
nurses,  or  servants,  they  are  apt  to  use,  as  adults, 
the  idioms  abhorred  by  polite  natives  and  thus 
miss  the  true  language  of  a  gentleman.  There  are 
Nehemiahs  even  in  Korea,  who  say  of  some  foreign- 
ers, "Their  children  spake  half  in  the  speech  of 
Ashdod."  When  during  his  interview  with  the 
king,  when  a  refugee  at  the  Russian  Legation,  in 
1896,  the  second-born  American  boy  and  the  first 
in  the  Methodist  household  in  Korea,  talked  to 
His  Majesty  in  the  artless  prattle  picked  up  from 
his  amah,  the  real  man  under  the  kingly  robes  was 
amused  and  delighted.  No  such  ' '  low  talk ' '  directly 
addressed  before  the  "dragon  countenance"  had 
ever  reached  to  the  Favourite  of  Heaven's  royal 
ears.  In  the  palace,  every  sentence  addressed  to 
royalty  had  taken  on  sky-rocket  tendencies,  while, 
grovelling  on  the  floor,  interpreters  perspired  and 
trembled  with  fear.  In  "Fifteen  Years  Among 
the  Topknots,"  the  witty  author  gives  some  amusing 
instances  of  her  hoisting  or  lowering  of  verbal 
commodities  intended  to  be  polite  or  otherwise, 
in  the  windmill  of  Korean  speech. 

In   preaching,    and   public   prayer,   however,   it 
became  a  serious  matter  when  one  attempted  to 


186       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

balance  himself  on  the  particular  rung  of  the  col- 
loquial ladder,  according  as  he  dealt  with  things 
earthly  or  heavenly,  high  or  low.  Angels  in  vision 
might  lightly  ascend  or  descend,  while  poor  Jacob 
lay  in  fear.  It  was  wonderfully  like  wrestling  with 
the  unknown,  thus  to  win  the  secret  of  power. 
Even  though  many  a  pilgrim,  when  he  greeted  the 
dawn  and  came  into  the  light  of  common  day,  might 
limp  and  halt  on  his  thigh,  yet  his  was  the  sensation 
of  victory  won.  In  a  foreign  land,  no  grander  sense 
of  power  can  come  to  the  Christian  lover  of  souls, 
than  when  he  is  able  to  talk  privately  to  men  to 
win  them  to  his  Saviour,  or  in  public  discourse  can 
present  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ  to  perish- 
ing men  in  their  mother  tongue. 

Probably  all  the  pioneer  missionaries,  set  down 
suddenly  on  a  pathless  jungle  of  speech,  in  their 
first  groping  and  grapple  with  the  language,  cher- 
ished lexicographical  ambitions.  "Oh  for  a  dic- 
tionary!" was  their  yearning  as  they  began,  on  note 
books,  the  backs  of  old  letters,  on  their  cuffs,  or 
the  most  accessible  stationery  of  any  sort,  on  any 
level  space  that  was  at  hand,  their  word-lists. 
Often  one  felt  like  a  Columbus  or  an  Archimedes, 
in  discovering  moods,  tenses  and  idioms.  Happily 
Bishop  Ridel,  the  French  Missionary,  had  blazed 
a  path  through  the  forest,  but  each  one  had,  in 
large  measure,  to  discover  the  terms  which  he  or 
she  needed.  Much  work,  that  reminded  one  of 
the  work  of  the  pumping  station,  was  necessary 
to  secure  words  often  raised  from  the  depths  of 
agonising  experiences.  Yet  though  many  word 


Mastering  the  Language          187 

lists  were  made  out,  few  ever  grew  into  lexicons, 
those  of  Underwood  and  Gale  being  the  best  known. 

Unfortunately  also,  this  new  land,  as  yet  one  of 
unknown  possibilities  in  biblical  translation,  was 
not  an  Eden  undefiled.  The  trail  of  the  Chinese 
serpent  was  over  all.  Strictly  speaking,  no  serious 
literature  of  a  distinctly  Korean  character  existed. 
Everything  except  folk-songs  and  tales  and  a  few 
romances  for  women  and  children,  was  expressed 
in  the  Chinese  character  and  cast  in  the  mould 
of  Chinese  thought.  "Learning,"  or  "education," 
applied  to  Korean,  had  no  meaning.  The  language 
was  in  a  primitive  condition.  No  great  native 
writers  or  poets  had  made  use  of  their  own  speech. 
In  the  two  book-shops  known  in  Soul,  only 
Chinese  books  were  sold.  No  printed  matter  in 
Korean  could  be  found,  for  anything  in  the  native 
script  was  beneath  the  notice  of  an  "educated 
man" — save  the  mark!  Such  a  person,  besotted 
with  Chinese  learning,  was  often  ignorant  of  his 
own  country's  alphabet,  or  written  language. 

No  where,  more  than  in  Korea,  is  one-half  of  the 
world  ignorant  of  how  the  other  half  lives.  If 
one  wished  to  learn  what  the  people  read,  he  must 
go  into  the  squatter's  booths,  that  then  littered  and 
narrowed  the  main  street,  or  in  the  shops  where 
the  odds  and  ends  of  a  pedlar's  stock  were  sold. 
There,  among  the  miscellaneous  assortment  of 
things  found  in  a  "general  store,"  such  as  hats, 
hat  covers,  crockery,  earthen  jars,  oiled  paper, 
inkstones,  brush-pens,  and  everyday  articles,  one 
might  find  the  song-books,  novelettes,  almanacs, 


188       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

and  other  evidences  of  a  popular  literature.  The 
novels  were  usually  in  the  form  of  yellow,  paper- 
covered  books,  nine  by  seven  and  a  half  inches  in 
size,  with  twenty-four  leaves  or  forty-eight  pages 
stitched  together  with  red  thread,  the  text  being 
in  the  pure  Korean  idiom  and  in  the  running  script 
of  the  Enmun,  or  native  alphabet.  In  the  two 
samples  in  my  library,  which  I  am  describing, 
Chinese  characters,  except  those  used  to  number 
the  page,  are  absent.  No  name  of  author,  pub- 
lisher, or  place  of  publication  is  given  in  these  unin- 
viting booklets.  Their  grayish  paper  is  of  the  coars- 
est, cheapest,  and  meanest  appearance,  while 
holes,  blotches,  and  bits  of  straw  in  the  tissue  further 
disfigure  them.  Notwithstanding  the  three  portly 
volumes  of  Mr.  Edward  Courant's  Bibliographic 
Coreenne,  which  tell  of  the  literary  work  of  Korean 
scholars,  who  employed  the  Chinese  characters, 
and  even  after  the  toilsome  researches  of  Mr.  Aston, 
Professor  Hulbert  Dr.  Gale  and  others,  one's 
report  on  the  state  of  the  Korean  language  and 
literature,  as  existing  for  the  people,  is  not  much 
more  encouraging. 

In  America,  the  lower  Hudson,  the  original  river, 
has  been  drowned  out  by  the  incoming  ocean.  In 
like  manner,  the  stream  of  Korean  written  speech 
has  been  lost  in  the  flood  of  Chinese.  More  than 
once  I  have  talked  with  Korean  literary  men,  urging 
them  to  cultivate  their  own  mother  tongue  and 
have  even  tried  hard  to  shame  them  into  following 
the  example  of  writers  of  English.  In  vain!  It 
was  like  the  "east  wind  in  a  donkey's  ears."  The 


Mastering  the  Language          189 

ear  flaps  of  their  mind  bent  to  the  storm.  They 
were  safely  immune,  inert  and  unashamed,  for 
they  considered  the  subject  of  cultivating  their 
vernacular  beneath  their  notice.  As  if,  like  delicate 
flowers  that  had  been  planted  under  thick  trees 
which  shut  out  life-giving  sunlight,  the  shadow  of 
great  China  had  been  too  long  over  the  blossoms 
of  the  native  imagination.  If  De  Quincey's  dic- 
tum, that  next  to  the  flag  of  his  native  country, 
a  scholar  should  be  loyal  to  his  own  language,  be 
true,  then  it  seems  little  wonder  that  Korean 
sovereignty  was  lost  and  that  Japanese  may  yet 
become  the  official  language  of  Cho-sen. 

Nevertheless,  to  the  rapturous  surprise  of  the 
missionaries,  there  lay,  as  in  a  cave,  an  invaluable 
treasure  awaiting  them.  No  AH  Baba,  with  the 
filched  secret  of  "Open  Sesame,"  was  more  thrilled 
by  the  discovery  of  gold  and  jewels,  than  were 
Underwood  and  Appenzeller  over  the  trover  of  the 
Enmun  alphabet.  Centuries  before,  this  beautiful 
phonetic  system,  alphabet  and  syllabary  in  one, 
had  been  elaborated;  but,  as  with  the  Dutch  in- 
ventions, which  Czar  Peter  the  Great  brought 
from  Holland,  which  lay  buried  for  centuries  in  the 
rubbish  room  of  a  museum,  in  the  boxes  in  which 
they  were  first  put,  so  was  it  with  the  Enmun. 
First  "carried  to  Paradise  on  the  stairways  of  sur- 
prise," the  gospel  heralds  descended  to  employ 
this  script  in  their  familiar  epistles,  tracts,  books, 
and  finally  in  it  they  enshrined  the  living  Word 
of  God.  There  are  many  reasons  which  furnish 
the  composite  answer  why  Korea,  as  compared 


190       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

with  Japan,  for  example,  has  been  so  quickly 
evangelised — unto  the  measure  of  to-day — but  not 
the  least  ingredient  in  the  answer  is  that  the  gospel 
message,  the  good  news  of  God,  came  to  the  Korean 
common  people  in  the  idiom  and  writing  most 
familiar.  Korean  scholars  of  privilege  and  con- 
dition might  denounce  this  Enmun  as  the  "dirty 
writing"  because  so  easy  to  learn,  but  missionaries 
made  this  despised  earthen  vessel  the  receptacle  of 
a  heavenly  treasure. 

It  is  true  that  both  the  Enmun  and  spoken  idiom 
have  their  limitations  and  cannot,  without  some 
admixture  of  Chinese  words,  be  used  in  works  of 
erudition,  or  become  the  vehicle  of  science  and 
learning.  In  this  respect,  the  Korean  is  no  dif- 
ferent from  our  own  speech  of  centuries  ago,  or 
of  Japanese  to-day.  Even  in  England,  orthography 
had  no  meaning  during  the  age  of  the  manuscript 
book  and  even  long  after  the  days  of  printing; 
as,  witness,  in  colonial  America,  it  lay  in  chaos. 
If  Korean  spelling  and  punctuation  were  formless 
and  void,  until  the  missionaries  came,  yet  even  after 
supposed  reformation  and  the  making  of  standards, 
they  had  their  own  trials.  It  is  no  flattery  to  the 
foreign  scholars  to  assert  that,  in  the  main,  Korea 
belonged  in  the  circle  of  countries  without  its  own 
literature,  until  the  heralds  of  the  gospel  came  to 
create  it.  Then  the  translated  Bible,  besides 
quickening  the  Korean  mind  and  heart,  called  into 
life  not  only  an  unknown  world  of  thought,  but 
by  setting  a  new  standard  of  speech  and  writing 
induced  the  beginnings  of  a  true  national  literature. 


Mastering  the  Language          191 

To  the  mastery  and  daily  use  of  Korean  script 
Appenzeller  set  himself  from  the  first,  so  that  within 
a  year,  the  use  of  it  under  his  pen  and  its  employ- 
ment as  moulds  of  his  thought  were  as  familiar 
to  him  as  his  own  daily  speech.  He  honoured  the 
Enmun. 

Steadfastly  ever,  throughout  all  details  and 
minutiae  of  work,  A.  pressed  forward  like  an  athlete 
in  mastery  also,  of  the  spoken  language.  He 
would  possess  this  potency  of  speech,  as  the  heart- 
opener,  for  the  individual  and  assembly;  for 
bringing  home  to  the  conscience  the  message  of 
the  moral  law  and  saving  grace;  for  the  burden  of 
the  printed  page;  and,  crowning  all,  the  living 
word  of  God  in  the  language  of  the  people.  That 
enterprise  of  New  Testament  translation  was  like 
"building  a  railway  through  the  national  intellect," 
or  digging  a  Panama  Canal — "linking  two  great 
oceans  the  ocean  of  God's  boundless  love  with  the 
immeasurable  expanse  of  human  need."  What  the 
labour  means  let  one  who  has  tried  it  tell.  The 
board  of  Bible  Translators  for  Korea,  formed  in 
1887,  as  pictured  in  Dr.  Underwood's  book,  "The 
Call  of  Korea,"  shows  in  1907  three  Korean  native 
scholars,  and  the  Rev.  Drs.  W.  D.  Reynolds,  H.  G. 
Underwood,  J.  S.  Gale,  and  George  Heber  Jones. 
A.  was  then  in  his  Father's  home.  The  author  of 
"Korea  in  Transition"  and  for  years  the  loving 
comrade  of  Appenzeller,  modestly  and  without 
exaggeration  thus  pictures  the  task: 

"What  a  huge  undertaking  it  is  no  one  knows 
who  has  not  tried  it.  Sixty  stories  of  a  life  in- 


192       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

surance  building  in  New  York  City  is  not  as  big 
an  undertaking.  It  takes  about  ten  years  to  do  it. 
If  we  think  of  all  the  digging  necessary  as  a  founda- 
tion on  which  to  work,  of  every  shovelful  of  para- 
graphs, of  what  each  word  means,  sifted  and  weighed 
and  valued  and  recorded,  with  malaria  and  weariness 
all  round  about,  it  reminds  one  of  digging  the  Pan- 
ama Canal." 

To  Appenzeller  were  assigned  Matthew,  Mark 
and  First  and  Second  Corinthians.  A.  saw  God 
in  history.  He  was  glad  to  put  Matthew's  good 
news  of  the  kingdom  and  Mark's,  "the  earliest 
gospel"  and  book  of  the  wondrous  deeds  of  the 
Master,  into  Korean,  and  then  follow  with  the  great- 
est pair  of  "tracts  for  the  times"  which  the  apostle 
of  the  Gentiles  wrote. 

Yet,  it  whitened  his  hair  to  do  it.  The  pioneer 
translator  has  to  begin  with  blasting  and  excavation, 
make  his  own  tools  and  discover  or  invent  idioms 
and  equivalents.  The  end  crowned  the  work. 
On  September  9,  1900,  a  service  of  thanksgiving  was 
held  in  the  First  Church,  in  Soul,  for  the  completion 
of  the  New  Testament  in  Korean.  While  the 
Boxer  riots  were  convulsing  China  and  some  of  the 
refugees  were  present,  the  American  minister, 
Dr.  H.  N.  Allen,  in  a  fitting  address,  presented  to 
each  of  the  translators  a  specially  bound  volume. 
Appenzeller's  copy  has  in  it  the  autographs  of  his 
fellow  workmen  in  the  glorious  task. 


XVIII 
In  Time  of  Pestilence 

PLAGUE,  pestilence,  and  famine  visited  old 
Korea  with  a  regularity  that  suggested  the 
order  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  The  balance 
between  food  and  population  seemed  to  be  kept  up 
by  Nature's  besom  of  destruction.  Dirt  and  vermin, 
more  than  war,  kept  down  the  numbers  of  her  imagi- 
nary "twenty  "  millions. 

When  foreigners,  accustomed  to  soap,  baths, 
ventilation,  and  the  apparatus  and  habits  which 
had  in  view  clean  bodies  and  houses,  entered  the 
land  in  1885,  they  wondered  how  any  Koreans  were 
left  alive  on  the  earth.  In  the  balance  of  nature, 
the  parasites,  real  and  imaginary,  that  prey  on 
human  society,  seemed  to  tip  the  scale.  Every- 
where the  greedy  ghosts  seemed  to  have  all  their 
wants  amply  provided  for,  and  to  monopolise  the 
best  land,  food,  and  things  beautiful  in  the  land- 
scape, while  the  living  were  deprived  of  the  right 
allowance  of  oxygen,  water,  covering,  shelter  and 
the  reservation  of  cuticle  for  one's  own  private 
use. 

The  theory  of  the  alien  from  Christendom,  upon 
which  he  acted,  taught  him  that  the  human  body, 
193 


194       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

like  a  house,  was  to  be  occupied  only  by  its  proper 
tenant,  and  that  it  ought  to  receive  its  daily  sup- 
plies of  air,  water,  light,  space  and  cleansing  mate- 
rial, in  order  to  be  kept  at  the  highest  effciency.  In 
further  development  of  this  theory,  so  absurd  to 
the  average  native,  on  y  those  educated  persons, 
trained  in  a  knowledge  of  anatomy  and  the  right 
ways  of  healing  and  surgery  founded  on  ascertained 
and  demonstrated  science,  should  be  allowed  to 
tamper  with  the  body  or  put  human  life  at  risk. 
In  a  word,  the  habits  of  daily  life  and  its  processes 
of  maintenance  and  repair  must  be  according  to 
the  laws  of  cause  and  effect.  Yet  these  were 
notions  at  which  the  native  laughed,  unless  he  were 
allowed  to  divide  his  faith  between  the  alien  and  the 
native  practitioner  and  to  mix  his  own  nostrums 
with  the  foreign  doctor's  medicine. 

Nevertheless  the  proud  intruder  (in  native  terms, 
the  man  from  over  the  sea)  in  Korea  must  remember 
that  all  these  ideas,  based  on  soap,  insect  powder 
and  a  hygienic  conscience,  are  quite  modern,  even 
in  Europe  and  America.  His  far-off  Celtic  or 
Teutonic  ancestors  knew  them  not.  Only  in 
recent  time  has  the  profession  of  a  physician  been 
recognised  as  either  scientific  or  honourable.  The 
trained  nurse  is  younger  than  Mrs.  Gamp.  It 
took  long  ages  to  raise  the  healing  art  above  the 
level  of  the  barber's  and  to  extricate  it  from  folk- 
lore, tradition,  witchcraft,  superstition  and  weird 
notions.  To  this  day,  the  word  pharmacist  means, 
literally,  a  poisoner.  Any  one  who  makes  research 
deeper  than  after-dinner  speeches  on  Forefathers' 


In  Time  of  Pestilence  195 

Day,  and  finds  out  what  Pilgrims  and  Puritans 
believed,  apart  from  orthodoxy,  will  not  mock  at 
the  Korean.  As  for  public  hygiene,  that  is,  hygiene 
made  a  matter  of  oversight  and  enforcement  by 
the  Government — such  an  idea  was  unknown  even 
a  century  ago.  The  use  of  charms,  amulets,  don- 
key hoofs,  rabbits'  paws,  witch-lore,  fictitious 
miracles,  processions  and  parade  of  saints'  images 
and  of  the  effigy  of  the  virgin,  with  litanies  and  vows, 
instead  of  cleaning,  scrubbing,  whitewash  and  fumi- 
gation were  the  rule,  rather  than  the  dictates  of 
reason  and  science.  Holland  was  one  of  the  first 
countries  to  war  on  dirt,  and  from  the  first,  Prot- 
estantism meant  more  soap. 

As  to  medical  science,  Old  Korea,  like  Old  Japan, 
was  the  land  of  thick  darkness.  Pretty  much  every 
fool  in  the  land — and  there  were  plenty  of  them — 
played  monkey  tricks  with  men's  vitals,  for  nearly 
all  adults  considered  themselves  doctors.  Knowing 
nothing  about  anatomy,  they  went  to  puncturing 
and  scarifying  the  body  with  all  the  valour  of  igno- 
rance. Rusty  needles  thrust  into  the  tissues,  hot 
coins  laid  on  the  skin,  decoctions  and  plasters  of 
unmentionable  filth,  to  heal  sores,  were  in  vogue. 
The  causes  of  disease  were  not  sought  in  dirt,  filthy 
air,  vermin,  gluttony,  undrained  streets,  con- 
taminated water  supply,  or  infected  air  or  bedding 
but  in  spirits,  demons,  and  all  the  tomfoolery  and 
delirium  tremens  of  morbid  fancy,  and,  finally, 
rats.  On  the  vulgar  theory  of  witchcraft  or  pos- 
session by  demons,  so  grossly  held  by  the  Koreans, 
just  as  it  was  by  our  own  benighted  fathers,  the 


196       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

lowest  class  of  vile  women  and  meanest  of  cunning 
men  were  paid  to  terrify  and  make  a  hell  on  earth 
of  the  house  of  the  sick  one. 

When  in  1886  the  cholera  visited  Soul  and  for 
six  weeks  desolated  the  crowded  city,  Appenzeller 
had  before  his  eyes  a  true  revelation  of  paganism 
in  its  most  brutal  forms.  Hundreds  died  daily, 
but  as  no  burials  were  allowed  within  the  city  walls, 
long  processions  of  bearers  of  the  dead,  sometimes 
fifteen  score  a  day,  passed  along  and  out  beyond 
the  gates,  which  were  open  night  and  day.  Cholera 
was  called  "the  rat  disease."  The  theory  held  by 
the  natives  was  that  the  rodents  entered  the  body 
and  by  running  up  and  down  the  legs  got  into  the 
vitals  and  caused  frightful  cramps  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  body.  Hence,  to  cure  the  rat  malady, 
they  hung  up  on  doors  and  walls  the  picture  of  a 
cat  on  paper,  or,  during  the  cramps,  they  rubbed  the 
patient's  abdomen  with  a  cat  skin ! 

Meanwhile  tons  of  green  fruits  and  vegetable 
stuff  were  devoured  daily.  People  took  cucumbers 
and  ate  them  raw,  skin,  seeds,  and  all.  A.  saw 
one  man  devour  ten  such  "cholera  pills,"  one  after 
the  other;  this  fellow,  like  millions  of  his  country- 
men, seeing  in  such  gluttony  no  connection  between 
cause  and  effect. 

Only  the  opening  of  the  windows  of  heaven, 
flooding  the  ditches,  flushing  out  the  city  and  wash- 
ing away  the  poison  left  in  the  air,  undrained  yards 
and  streets,  checked  the  pestilence  by  September 
and  before  the  advent  of  frost.  In  the  midst  of 
the  worst,  the  heat  was  almost  prostrating. 


In  Time  of  Pestilence  197 

This  is  what  A.  saw  during  the  continuance  of 
the  pest.  On  the  very  first  appearance  of  symptoms 
of  the  disease,  slave  women  were  ejected  by  their 
masters  and  poor  people  put  out  on  the  street  by 
their  landlords  or  families.  Usually  the  slaves  were 
dumped  and  left  to  die.  In  the  case  of  others, 
rude  straw  shacks  were  run  up  and  the  victims 
left  with  a  little  rice  and  a  jar  of  water  to  take  their 
chances.  Sixty  shacks  were  counted  just  outside 
the  West  Gate,  and  the  city  wall  was  lined  inside 
with  these  yellow  gourds  of  the  night.  "One  or 
two  hundred  corpses  were  borne  nightly  through 
one  portal.  The  sounds  of  pain  and  woe,  of  grief 
and  distraction,  sounded  like  one  prolonged  wail 
and  were  heard  night  and  day  in  their  own  homes 
by  the  foreigners  of  whom  few  or  none  died  during 
the  epidemic. 

In  walking  out  one  day  A.  found  a  poor  slave 
girl  alone  and  in  her  last  agonies.  He  hired  watchers 
and  paid  for  her  burial. 

In  the  second  visitation,  in  1895,  after  the  war 
with  China,  the  Christian  missionaries  and  the 
Japanese  united  their  energies  to  check  the  plague 
and  save  lives.  They  brought  pressure  upon  the 
Government  in  Soul  and  secured  regulations  against 
"the  enormous  and  insane  consumption  of  green 
apples,  melons,  and  cucumbers."  Traffic  in  these 
vegetable  horrors  was  forbidden,  penalties  were 
fixed  and  notices  of  the  prohibition  put  up  in  many 
places.  Ten  thousand  dollars  were  appropriated 
from  the  Imperial  treasury  to  erect  a  temporary 
emergency  hospital — an  old  barracks  being  used — 


198       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

and  to  enforce  the  laws,  but  most  of  this  money  was 
swallowed  up  in  "practical  politics.'*  In  the 
mirror  of  history,  one  may  read  one  of  the  causes 
why  Japan  took  over  Korea.  It  was  because  of 
irreformable  corruption  in  the  Government.  The 
money  appropriated  was  in  large  part  "eaten  up" 
by  the  native  grafters.  Right  under  the  notices 
prohibiting  the  sale  of  "cholera  pills,"  a  lively 
trade  in  the  green  goods  went  on,  even  the  police- 
men enjoying  the  feast  of  cucumbers  and  unripe 
apples. 

Since  the  Japanese  took  the  country  under  their 
charge,  they  compel  semi-annual  house-cleaning. 
In  time  of  epidemic,  with  fumigation,  a  corps  of 
men  armoured  in  antiseptic  clothing  and  protected 
as  to  the  nose  and  ears,  with  sprinklers,  brooms 
and  microbe-killers,  the  cities  are  made  pest-proof. 
Instead  of  thousands  dying  daily,  as  in  1887,  Soul, 
in  1909,  lost  only  a  few  hundreds  during  the  epidemic. 

Mrs.  Underwood  gives  a  graphic  account  of  the 
work  done  in  the  rudely  equipped  hospital  of  1895 
— only  the  floor  for  beds  and  logs,  or  blocks  of  wood, 
for  pillows.  Of  173  patients  brought  in,  many 
already  dying  or  in  collapse,  a  third  died,  but  of 
those  not  far  gone  most  were  saved.  That  any 
cures  were  made  seemed  wonderful  in  the  eyes  of 
the  natives,  and  the  fame  of  the  foreign  physicians, 
who  spent  night  and  day  in  trying  to  save  common 
people,  went  out  into  the  country  at  large.  Many 
a  heart  was  thus  made  ready  for  the  Divine  Guest, 
when  the  good  news  of  God — the  spring  of  the 
foreigner's  love  for  the  Koreans — was  told  afar. 


In  Time  of  Pestilence  199 

Hearty  thanks  were  vouchsafed  from  the  Govern- 
ment, through  the  minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

The  surface  observations  of  twentieth  century 
foreign  newspaper  correspondents,  magazine  writers, 
travellers,  etc.,  who  sally  out  doors  in  Soul,  after  a 
comfortable  breakfast  at  the  luxurious  hotel,  and 
who  judge  of  life  as  they  see  it  during  tourist  hours, 
are  not  worth  much,  except  as  condiments  in  the 
newspaper  dish  of  hash,  or  as  material  for  spicy 
chat  and  the  sensational  talks  at  home.  Before 
Christ  came  to  Korea,  in  the  person  of  his  servants, 
the  missionaries,  by  whom,  or  through  their  friends, 
hospitals  have  been  erected,  it  was  the  common 
custom  "to  put  servants,  dependants,  or  strangers 
at  once  on  the  street,  if  affected  with  any  infectious 
disease,  and  it  was  the  commonest  occurrence  to 
find  poor  people  lying  by  the  roadside,  either 
exposed  to  the  bitterest  blasts  of  winter  or  the 
blazing  heat  of  mid-summer.  Sometimes  a  friend 
or  a  relative  had  erected  a  rude  thatch  over  the 
sufferer.  Sometimes  a  whole  family  together  oc- 
cupied such  a  hut,  the  dead  and  the  dying  lying 
together." 

The  above  is  the  testimony  of  Mrs.  Underwood, 
herself  a  physician,  but  A.'s  letters  and  the  journals 
of  other  observers,  some  of  them  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  make  many  a  mention  of  the  same  state 
of  things  as  normal  in  Old  Korea.  Japanese  and 
foreign  witness  on  the  same  points  is  abundant. 
I  myself  saw  a  similar  state  of  affairs  in  feudal 
Japan.  In  her  new  life,  stimulated  by  the  example 
and  urgency  of  the  foreign  missionary  physicians 


200       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

like  Hepburn  and  Simmons,  of  fifty  years  ago  and 
others,  Japan  has  not  only  since  reared  a  thousand 
hospitals  on  her  old  territory,  but  in  Formosa  and 
Cho-sen  has  erected  some  superb  houses  of  healing. 
To-day,  the  Japanese,  who  have  a  genius  for  uniting 
what  is  good  (we  cannot,  as  yet,  say  the  best)  in 
both  Oriental  and  Occidental  civilisation,  are 
introducing  in  Korea  not  only  public  hygiene, 
but  are  making  the  hospital  as  normal  a  part  of 
civic  life  as  is  the  court  and  the  school.  Yet  the 
spring  of  all  this  beneficent  activity  lies  in  the 
words  of  the  Great  Physician — "heal  the  sick." 
The  first  great,  inspiring  example  in  Korea  was 
given  by  Christ-filled  men  who  obeyed,  with  those 
who  sent  them,  the  Redeemer's  command. 


XIX 
School  and  Church 

IN  studying  the  printed  biographies  of  different 
men  and  in  perusing  their  autograph  diaries 
kept  day  by  day,  as  well  as  in  surveying  the 
complete  lives  of  men  we  have  known,  in  the  full 
perspective  of  years,  after  their  tale  on  earth  has 
been  told,  one  is  struck  with  the  vast  differences, 
both  in  their  physical  make-up  and  in  their  sub- 
jective view  of  the  universe  and  of  their  place  hi 
it.  Although  so  diverse  in  body  and  mind,  owing 
to  variety  of  heredity  and  training,  they  are  much 
alike  in  their  ability,  through  God's  help  and  a 
determined  will,  to  achieve  great  results.  Unlike 
in  manner,  appearance,  method,  and  cast  of  mind 
as  they  may  be,  the  good  done  to  their  fellow  men 
is  permanent.  Full  consecration  to  the  will  of 
God  makes  men,  though  of  contrasting  qualities, 
equally  Christ-like,  enabling  both  the  timid  man 
and  the  natural  stalwart  to  be  brave  as  lions.  It 
is  not  only  of  nations,  but  of  the  diverse  elements 
blended  in  one  soul  that  we  may  say  they  are 
"One  in  Christ."  In  studying  both  our  inmost 
selves  and  men  living  on  varying  levels  of  physical 
vigour  and  mental  acuteness,  we  penetrate  the 
meaning  of  the  psalmist's  prayer  "Unite  my  heart 
to  fear  thy  name." 

201 


202       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

The  lives  of  some  missionaries,  pioneers  in  the 
world's  work,  like  Hepburn  of  Japan,  for  example, 
are  commentaries  on  the  famous  prescription,  to 
secure  longevity,  which  was  written  by  the  witty 
Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes.  It  is  this — have 
some  incurable  disease;  so  that,  while  the  doctors 
are  sounding,  pounding,  measuring,  prescribing 
for  and  warning  the  patient,  he  would,  meanwhile, 
take  care  of  himself.  Hepburn,  though  frail  from 
youth  and  a  semi-invalid  most  of  his  life,  died  at 
ninety-six,  not  of  any  disease,  but  rather  because, 
as  President  John  Adams  once  said  of  himself: 
"He  lived  in  a  house  that  was  worn  out,  and  the 
Landlord  had  refused  to  make  further  repairs." 
Timid  as  a  child  in  seeing  difficulties  and  shrinking 
at  first  from  encountering  them,  Hepburn  was  yet 
as  bold  as  a  lion  when  confronting  what  lay  in  the 
path  of  duty. 

Almost  at  antipodes  from  such  a  saint  as  Hep- 
burn of  Japan,  was  Appenzeller  of  Korea,  who  lived 
in  a  superbly  built  house  constructed  by  the 
Almighty,  through  generations  of  hardy  moun- 
taineers, farmers,  and  dwellers  in  the  open  air. 
To  him  was  given,  from  his  fathers,  on  earth  and 
in  Heaven,  exuberance  of  health.  His  outlook 
was  ever  cheerful.  He  scarcely  ever  felt  a  pang 
or  an  ache,  though  often,  through  overexertion 
and  persistent  toil,  knowing  what  weariness  was. 
How  that  superb  frame  was  worn  almost  to  a  shadow, 
in  later  years,  belongs  near  the  end  of  our  story. 

Appenzeller  saw  realities,  but  he  also  read  most 
clearly  Jehovah's  promises;  and,  having  a  vast 


School  and  Church  203 

fund  of  physical  vigour,  not  only  felt  that  he  was 
co-working  with  God  and  that  the  Almighty  was 
working  in  and  with  him,  he  showed  this  assured 
conviction  in  a  constantly  cheerful  mien.  "We 
love  Korea,  because  God  is  with  us,"  he  wrote. 
There  is  a  mighty  difference  in  the  various  auto- 
graphs and  diaries  of  Hepburn  of  Japan,  for  example, 
and  Appenzeller  of  Korea.  Both  children  of 
God  and  walking  closely  with  their  Father,  they 
differed  at  a  hundred  points  in  theology,  outlook 
and  method.  In  theory,  they  were  at  the  poles, 
in  Christlikeness  they  were  as  twins. 

The  Hebrews  call  the  "anointed  ones,"  that  is, 
prophets  of  comfort,  "sons  of  oil,"  and  the  opening 
word  of  the  "Great  Unnamed,"  who,  in  Israel's 
darkest  hour,  lifted  high  above  all  others  the  voice 
of  prophecy,  was,  "Comfort  ye,  comfort  ye  my 
people." 

A.  belonged  in  the  brotherhood  of  the  sons  of 
oil,  and  the  reservoir  that  supplied  him,  being  divine, 
was  rich  and  unfailing.  He  was  a  preacher  of  con- 
solation. Hence  he  was  always  in  demand  in  times 
of  trouble  and  bereavement.  Of  him,  the  prophet's 
words  were  true,  "Thy  name  shall  be  called  'Sought 
out.' '  It  was  especially  when  funeral  sermons 
were  in  order  that  the  sorrowful  loved  to  hear  his 
voice.  Yet  in  his  discourse,  the  doleful  note  was 
absent.  Beside  the  tender  sympathetic  heart  to 
heart  talk,  which  he  gave  to  the  mourning  ones, 
the  tenor  of  his  remarks  suggested  a  Hallelujah 
Chorus  rather  than  a  penitential  psalm.  As  far 
as  nadir  is  from  zenith,  was  his  idea  of  death  from 


204       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

that  of  the  bereaved  Korean,  who  wears  sackcloth 
for  three  years.  A.  ever  saw  "the  stars  shine 
through  his  cypress  trees,"  nor  did  he  fear  the 
ghosts  or  devils  which  enslaved  the  Korean. 

In  strange  situations  on  land  or  sea,  on  a  rocking 
ship,  or  in  a  house,  or  auditorium  surrounded  and 
supported  by  all  the  proprieties,  A.  was  always  heard 
with  joy.  The  sorrowing  went  forth  with  strength 
newly  gained.  Yet  words  did  not  exhaust  his 
sympathy.  His  helping  hand  always  supplemented 
his  comforting  words.  Whether  it  was  one  of  the 
waifs  and  strays  of  humanity  in  a  strange  land — 
a  stranded  American  sailor,  a  native  in  distress, 
or  a  sick  slave  cast  out  like  so  much  rubbish,  A. 
was  ever  at  hand  to  supply  cheer  or  to  help  in  the 
last  ministrations  of  decency  and  humanity.  Espe- 
cially was  this  trait  of  his  notable,  when  pestilence 
walked  through  the  land  or  cholera  raged  in  the 
capital. 

In  the  full  sense  of  the  word  A.  was  envoy  and 
pioneer  of  civilisation.  He  believed  in  no  religion 
of  theory  only,  or  in  any  attempt  to  interrupt 
Christianity  in  terms  of  the  spirit  alone,  apart  from 
the  body  and  the  soul.  He,  like  the  great  apostle 
to  the  nations,  held  to  the  tripartite  nature  of  man. 
In  both  his  orthodoxy  and  what  was  better,  his 
orthopraxis,  each  term  of  the  three  in  man,  "body, 
soul,  and  spirit,"  as  enumerated  by  the  apostle, 
must  be  equally  nourished  and  ministered  unto. 
He  could  not  understand  how  a  Christian  could 
starve  his  spiritual  nature  by  yielding  too  freely 
to  the  calls  of  the  appetite,  or  by  dallying  with  the 


School  and  Church  205 

allurements  of  the  passions.  On  the  other  hand, 
to  profess,  or  to  attempt  culture  of  the  spirit,  apart 
from  the  body,  in  a  word,  to  eliminate  from  man 
his  soul — the  sheath  of  the  spirit  and  director  of  the 
body — was  absurdity  and  meant  unsoundness  in 
Scripture  doctrine. 

It  was  because  A.  was  an  all-round  man  that  he 
was  able,  in  the  time  of  first  need,  say  from  1885 
to  1890,  to  be  a  factotum,  a  man  of  all  work.  He 
was  a  pathfinder  and  a  road-breaker  into  many  an 
uninvaded  realm,  over  which  seemed  to  stand  a 
Macedonian,  crying,  "Come  over  and  help  us." 
To  him,  "first  aid  to  the  injured"  meant  instant 
help  to  the  present  need  before  his  eyes,  whether 
expected  or  unexpected,  in  professional  routine 
or  out  of  it. 

His  first  problems  were  of  rock  blasting  or  soil 
upturning.  The  time  had  not  yet  come  for  con- 
centrated work  in  one  line,  or  for  specialities,  such 
as  preaching  in  the  vernacular,  Bible  translation, 
commentary  making,  the  creation  of  a  Christian 
literature,  the  governing  of  Christian  churches, 
the  teaching  of  theology  as  a  science,  the  details 
of  manipulation  and  adjustment  in  the  settlement 
of  a  thousand  questions  that  were  to  arise  later  as 
problems  of  growth.  During  the  days  that  must 
elapse  before  his  speech  in  Korean  could  be 
fluent,  and  while  inwardly  preparing  for  outward 
aggressiveness,  he  utilised  his  spare  moments  in 
work,  which  by  its  manifold  variety  meant  refresh- 
ment. He  edited  and  published  both  a  Christian 
weekly  periodical,  The  Korean  Christian  Advocate, 


206       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

and  also  the  monthly  Korean  Repository,  which 
was  "a  journal  of  civilisation."  For  years  he  was 
president  of  the  Korean  Religious  Tract  Society. 
He  introduced  the  social  features  of  the  best  Euro- 
pean and  American  life.  As  a  wise  master  builder, 
he  laid  broad  foundations,  upon  which  others 
should  uprear  noble  structures.  Let  us  look  at 
some  of  these  industries  planned,  advised,  carried 
out  or  co-operated  with,  by  the  man  who  obeyed 
the  Scripture  mandate,  "Whatsoever  thy  hand 
findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might." 

During  his  seventeen  years  of  life  in  Korea, 
Appenzeller,  a  true  citizen  of  the  world,  saw  many 
great  events,  met  scores  of  authors,  travellers  and 
men  of  light  and  leading  from  many  lands  and  of 
diverse  civilisations — soldiers,  bishops,  diplomat- 
ists, and,  not  least,  fellow  pioneers  and  "beginners 
of  a  better  time."  In  one  chapter,  we  can  but 
note  but  a  few  names  and  only  glance  at  a  few  of 
the  most  striking  of  the  events  and  essay,  in  part, 
their  interpretation.  With  all  these,  Appenzeller 
grew  and  broadened  with  his  experiences.  "When 
he  was  fresh  from  the  Seminary  and  had  not  yet 
rubbed  up  against  the  world  and  men,"  says  Dr. 
H.  N.  Allen,  "he  seemed  rather  narrow,  but  that 
wore  off.  ...  In  later  years,  however,  he  said  to 
me  that  he  had  come  to  realise  that  certain  things 
impossible  for  himself  were  practised  by  men  whom 
he  knew  to  be  as  worthy  Christians  as  himself, 
and  he  had  come  to  the  point  of  trying  not  to  sit 
in  judgment  upon  the  acts  of  others,  when  such 
acts  should  be  rather  a  matter  between  the  other's 


School  and  Church  207 

conscience  and  himself.  I  honoured  Appenzeller 
for  this  evidence  of  a  broadening  and  increasingly 
charitable  view.  At  the  same  time,  he  remained 
to  the  end  a  most  ardent  Methodist  of  the  John 
Wesley  type." 

From  the  first,  A.  got  on  well  with  the  Japanese, 
and  this  was  one  secret  of  his  wide  and  ever  growing 
influence;  and  yet  I  imagine  he  could  have  been 
' '  help  meet ' '  to  any  and  all  good  men ;  for  the  simple 
reason  that  he  was  a  Christ  filled  man  and  not 
sectarian  or  bigot.  "We  love  Korea,  because  God 
is  with  us  here,"  he  wrote.  Among  the  men  first 
met  in  Soul,  at  the  Legation  of  Japan,  was  Mr. 
Takahira,  who  during  four  years  had  been  secretary 
in  Washington  and  had  heard  both  Robert  Ingersoll 
and  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  He  thought  'Bob" 
looked  upon  religion  as  something  very  funny, 
but  believed  that  his  frivolity  would  tell  ultimately 
against  any  thing  like  permanent  influence.  He 
was  more  profoundly  influenced  with  Beecher's 
earnestness  and  power  as  an  orator  and  as  doing 
a  lasting  work.  In  later  years,  Mr.  Takahira, 
as  ambassador  at  Washington,  and  with  Komura, 
whom  A.  had  also  known  in  Soul  (both  of  them 
pupils  of  the  biographer),  faced  the  Russian  envoys 
at  Portsmouth  and  signed  the  treaty  that  ended  the 
war  of  1904-1905.  In  both  arms  and  diplomacy, 
the  Japanese  came  out  victors.  With  the  other 
ministers  and  consuls  of  Japan,  Appenzeller  was 
ever  friendly  and  co-operative. 

In  his  early  letters  A.  paid  a  high  tribute  to 
Lieutenant  Foulke,  U.  S.  N.,  then  in  charge  of  the 


208       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

Legation — "a  man  who  has  done  more  to  raise 
America  in  the  eyes  of  the  Koreans,  than  anyone 
else."  This  brilliant  young  naval  officer  had 
explored  almost  every  one  of  the  provinces  and  his 
reports  to  the  Department  are  most  valuable 
materials  for  history  and  rich  in  information.  To 
the  biographer,  he  gave  his  MS.  journal  of  travels, 
which  shows  primitive  Korea  in  its  rawest  state. 
Foulke  often  called  at  the  missionary's  home,  and, 
as  he  saw  royalty  often,  it  was  he  who  first  told  the 
king  of  Appenzeller's  presence  and  work.  Foulke's 
was  a  word  fitly  spoken  and  led  to  noble  results. 
Appenzeller  had  already  opened  a  school  to  teach 
English  and  thus  began  to  lay  the  foundations  of 
Christian  education  in  Korea.  The  king  there- 
upon, in  1886,  gave  the  school  a  name,  a  royal  tablet, 
furnishing  what  was  at  first  so  much  needed  to  make 
it  popular  with  the  Koreans.  Thus,  "under  Govern- 
ment auspices,"  the  school  named  Pai  Chai,  or 
Hall  for  the  Rearing  of  Useful  Men,  began  its  grand 
career.  The  blue  official  tablet  was  placed  over 
the  entrance  to  the  school  enclosure,  into  which 
hundreds  of  native  students  have  come,  so  that 
Pai  Chai  is  known  through  the  peninsula. 

The  next  year,  1887,  the  fine  brick  building, 
erected  at  the  expense  of  the  Methodist  Board  and 
the  "gift  of  the  American  people  to  Korea,"  was 
dedicated.  It  was  a  long,  low,  one-storied  edifice, 
the  first  brick  building  in  the  country.  Of  necessity, 
it  could  not  be  lofty,  for  anything  high  was  feared 
in  the  palace.  All  ideas  of  Korean  propriety 
would  have  been  violated  had  it  been  higher  than 


School  and  Church  209 

the  squatty  native  structures  in  use  from  king  to 
coolie.  Later  on,  some  financial  support  was 
furnished  by  the  Government,  lasting  until  1902. 
The  architect  was  a  Japanese,  Mr.  T.  Yoshizawa. 

Memorable  were  the  words  of  the  Bishop  at  the 
ceremonies  of  dedication — "This  building  is  a  gift 
of  good  will  and  brotherliness  from  the  United 
States  to  Korea." 

Yes!  The  mark  of  America  on  Asia  is  not  the 
mark  of  Europe — conquest,  aggression  and  financial 
exploitation.  It  is  the  mark  of  the  college,  dispen- 
sary, hospital,  school  and  church,  of  the  teacher,  the 
honourable  merchant,  the  con  ecrated  missionary. 
Americans  have  ever  believed  that  Asiatics  exist, 
not  to  be  conquered  and  made  vassals,  but  to  be 
healed,  taught,  helped,  and  treated  as  men.  Such 
a  creed  and  policy  was  put  into  practice  over  a 
century  ago.  May  it  expand  and  deepen: 

The  first  public  religious  service  in  Korean  was  held 
at  the  Bethel  Chapel,  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
city  on  Easter  Sunday,  April  8,  1887,  when  A. 
baptised  his  first  convert,  a  woman,  and  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  celebrated.  He  had  already  begun  his 
direct  evangelical  work  in  the  baptism  of  a  Japanese 
Christian.  By  Christmas  time,  a  church  was 
formed,  in  which  believers  of  three  nationalities 
were  members.  Dr.  W.  B.  Scranton  in  1904  thus 
recalls  the  scene. 

"Brother  Appenzeller  had  bought  a  native  house 
in  the  heart  of  the  city  .  .  .  for  our  first  formal 
Christian  service  with  the  Koreans.  It  was  put 
in  charge  of  a  convert.  One  room  in  its  inner  court 


210       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

had  been  set  aside  as  our  first  Korean  sanctuary. 
It  was  newly  papered  and  cleaned,  but  otherwise 
not  furnished,  except  for  a  low  table,  on  which  were 
neatly  set  the  elements  for  our  first  Holy  Communion 
with  our  native  church.  Brother  Appenzeller 
and  I,  with  four  or  five  baptised  Koreans,  alone 
composed  this  first  memorable  congregation.  It 
was  Christmas  morning  and  he  preached  his  carefully 
prepared  sermon  in  Korean,  from  the  text  he  loved, 
'And  thou  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus,  for  he  shall 
save  his  people  from  their  sins.' 

' '  This  was  a  solemn  time  with  us.  We  worshipped 
in  secret  and  in  stealth,  but  we  had  the  first  fruits 
there  and  the  power  of  the  promise,  '  Lo,  I  am  with 
you  always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world.' ' 

At  this  service,  the  two  Mrs.  Scranton,  mother 
and  wife,  and  Mrs.  Appenzeller  were  also  present. 

Appenzeller  sowed  beside  all  waters.  On  the 
city  street,  engaging  the  passerby  in  conversation; 
in  the  country,  by  taking  to  the  people;  in  the 
school  and  church,  by  personal  appeal  to  individuals 
and  to  audiences  in  public  discourse.  The  con- 
verts came  at  first  one  by  one;  then  by  twos  and 
threes;  then  by  families  and  villages.  The  dis- 
pensary and  hospital  were  feeders  to  the  church. 
Often  in  the  experiences  of  pain  and  weakness, 
offset  by  the  kindly  attention  of  skilled  healers, 
many  a  native,  in  returning  health,  yes,  many  a 
hundred  of  them,  found  the  House  of  God  and  the 
Gate  of  Heaven. 

So  when  the  church,  not  of  brick  or  stone,  but 
of  souls  responsive  to  the  Spirit's  call  was  formed, 


School  and  Church  211 

a  garment  being  needed,  the  edifice  was  planned. 
The  architecture  was  that  which  every  where  may 
be  considered  typical  of  a  Christian  house  of  wor- 
ship. The  brick  walls  and  pointed  roof  were  sur- 
mounted with  a  square  tower.  It  was  situated 
in  Chung  Dong,  in  the  heart  of  the  city.  The  cor- 
ner stone  was  laid  with  becoming  solemnity  and 
joy,  September  9,  1895.  The  architect  was  a 
Japanese  and  the  cost  was  $8048.29.  It  was  first 
occupied  October  3,  1897  (and  completed  in  1898). 
Services  were  held  henceforth  regularly  and  even 
at  this  writing  (in  1912)  it  is  a  hive  of  spiritual 
industry  with  over  a  thousand  members.  As  the 
scene  of  Appenzeller's  labours,  as  a  winner  of  souls, 
it  stands  as  a  noble  monument  in  the  history  of 
Korean  Christianity. 

These  were  the  years  of  war,  tumults,  the  palace 
murders,  the  flight  of  the  king  to  the  Russian  lega- 
tion and  his  return,  and  the  coming  and  going  of 
soldiers  as  legation  guards,  while  the  map  of  Asia 
was  being  altered.  Nevertheless,  the  work  for 
that  kingdom,  which  is  everlasting  and  to  survive 
all  others,  went  steadily  on.  No  plots,  riots,  politics, 
battles,  commotion,  dangers  from  mobs,  invading 
armies,  Chinese  or  Japanese,  Boxers  or  Tong  Haks 
deterred  for  one  moment  this  son  and  servant  of 
Christ  and  the  Church.  It  was  ever  "Forward" 
and  "Excelsior"  with  him,  while  the  church  moved 
on;  and  as  he  loved  to  sing: 

"Mid  toil  and  tribulation 
And  tumult  of  her  war 
She  waits  the  consumation 
Of  peace  forevermore." 


212       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

As  to  the  general  appearance  of  this  first  church 
edifice  in  Korea,  built  in  foreign  style,  Dr.  H.  N. 
Allen  writes : 

"He  (Appenzeller)  had  set  himself  the  task  of 
erecting  a  suitable  church  building  right  across 
from  the  U.  S.  Legation.  He  succeeded  too  and  the 
fine  home-like  brick  edifice,  with  its  short  corner 
tower  is  a  great  addition  to  and  improvement  of 
the  foreign  quarter.  It  stands,  as  do  the  fine 
brick  buildings  of  the  Methodist  School  (Pai  Chai) 
and  the  Methodist  Printing  Press,  which  crowns 
the  hill  opposite  our  Legation,  as  monuments  to 
this  man's  vigourous  efforts  and  tireless  energy." 


XX 
On  First  Furlough — Home 

AFTER  seven  years  of  continuous  and  varied 
toil  in  a  strange  land,  the  time  had  come 
for  recuperation  and  a  visit  home.  True 
economy  of  force  makes  it  wise  for  the  missionary, 
as  well  as  the  official  and  the  teacher,  to  observe 
a  sabbatic  rest,  in  years  as  well  as  in  days.  The 
British  Government,  which  with  civil  servants, 
has  had  the  largest  experience  of  any  in  the  world, 
has  found  that  for  the  highest  human  efficiency, 
one  year's  rest  after  every  seven  of  work  is  im- 
perative. 

A.  was  a  man  of  superb  powers  at  their  maturity, 
but  for  years  he  had  been,  as  one  of  the  visiting 
bishops  said,  "doing  three  men's  work,"  and  this, 
with  the  malarial  climate  and  the  hard  conditions 
of  a  pioneer,  had  told  on  his  physical  frame.  In- 
stead of  weighing,  in  1885,  possibly  two  hundred 
pounds,  he  tipped  the  scales  in  1892,  at  one  hundred 
and  forty,  having  lost  sixty  pounds  avoirdupois. 

The  local  physician  strenuously  advised  change 
and  the  Mission  Board  ordered  him  home.  His 
passport  dated  August  7,  1889,  described  him  thus: 
aSe»  31  years;  stature,  5  ft.  n^  ins.;  forehead  full; 
eyes,  gray;  nose,  Grecian;  mouth,  medium  size; 

213 


214       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

chin,  round;  hair,  brown;  complexion,  clear;  face, 
clean  shaven. 

In  reality  however,  his  change  of  place  was  to  be 
but  a  change  of  work.  Except  some  brief  pleasure 
in  travel,  he  must  toil  in  the  service  of  the  churches 
at  home.  Of  all  causes  or  enterprises,  that  of  the 
world's  evangelisation  needs  constant  nourishment 
and  stimulus,  and  no  substitute  equal  in  power 
has  yet  been  found  for  the  living  worker  in  the 
field,  especially  if  he  knows  what  to  say  and  how  to 
say  it.  In  foreign  missions,  information  and  in- 
spiration must  be  constant  and  unfailing  from  the 
front,  for  those  who  at  home  gladly  hear.  In  the 
economy  of  missions,  a  "school  of  expression" 
might  well  be  maintained  in  which  returned  mis- 
sionaries should  be  "coached"  for  the  most  effective 
"presentation  of  the  cause."  "Time  is  money" 
and  sometimes  worth  even  more  than  fashionable 
pleasures.  How  seize  and  improve  it  to  hungry 
hearers?  All  accounts  agree  that  when  at  home  on 
furlough  A.  knew  what  to  say  and  how  to  say  it. 

Moreover  reinforcements  were  needed,  and  A. 
was  to  act  as  recruiting  officer.  This  meant  slow, 
tedious  work.  There  is  no  lack  of  volunteers 
after  the  pioneers  have  done  their  work  and  the 
forlorn  hope  has  become  the  victorious  vanguard. 
In  the  day  of  small  things,  however,  enlistments 
are  few. 

This  time  the  "triumphant  Pennsylvanian " 
went  not  with  his  wife  only,  but  with  three  children 
whom  God  had  given  him.  One  of  these  was  a 
son,  whom  he  did  not  name  Gershom  (Exodus  ii: 


On  First  Furlough — Home        215 

22),  but  Henry,  after  himself.  For  the  time  his 
house  in  Soul  was  dismantled  of  his  own  peculiar 
treasures  and  handed  over  to  the  occupancy  of 
others. 

When  all  was  ready  to  start,  the  total  depravity  of 
human  nature,  to  which  that  of  the  bland  Korean 
was  no  exception,  was  illustrated  and  the  unity 
of  the  human  race  demonstrated;  for,  is  not  the 
common  carrier  of  man  and  freight,  all  over  the 
world,  the  same?  Witness  the  necessity  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  in  America! 
In  Soul,  on  the  early  morning  of  June,  1892,  the 
bearers,  man  and  beast,  previously  engaged  were 
on  hand,  the  pack-horses  loaded,  the  palanquins, 
or  covered  chairs,  ready  and  filled  with  their  oc- 
cupants. By  all  logic,  the  cavalcade  should  start 
promptly,  to  catch  the  river  steamer  to  Chemulpo; 
when,  there  happened  one  of  those  vexatious  delays 
which  rise  from  nothing  else  than  from  a  can- 
tankerousness  that  was  in  no  way  "Oriental"  or 
"Asiatic;"  but,  though  suggestive  of  a  mule,  very 
human.  It  gave  A.  one  of  his  many  opportunities 
for  studying  man's  nature,  not  in  books,  but  as 
expressed  in  two-legged  realities.  He  had  previously 
justly  and  fairly  made  his  bargain  with  the  head 
man  who  was  to  take  charge  of  the  gang  and  pay 
all.  Mrs.  Missionary  wondered  why  they  did 
not  start.  She  was  tired  of  holding  the  baby. 
When  argument,  urging,  expostulation  and  elo- 
quence had  failed  an  application  of  force,  limited, 
which  is  so  useful  when  other  means  fail,  was 
necessary.  Taking  one  or  two  of  the  noisiest  of 


216       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

the  orators  by  the  collar  and  swinging  them  round 
like  a  top,  but  in  the  direction  of  their  goal,  A. 
shouted  "go  on!"  Thereupon,  with  promptness 
and  agility,  which  showed  the  sweet  reasonableness 
of  the  Korean,  the  party  started  off  in  good  spirits 
on  a  trot.  The  river  steamboat  for  Chemulpo 
was  reached.  They  boarded  the  larger  steamer 
for  Kobe,  Japan,  and  thence  were  transferred  to 
the  ocean  liner,  Empress  of  China,  bound  for  San 
Francisco.  The  Appenzellers  found  some  well- 
known  people  among  their  fellow-passengers  in- 
cluding Mrs.  Bradley  of  Boston,  the  generous  lover 
of  art,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rudyard  Kipling,  and  the 
Hon.  Hugh  Fraser,  British  plenipotentiary  to 
Tokyo  and  his  accomplished  wife,  the  sister  of 
Marion  Crawford,  and,  later,  the  author  of  several 
charming  works  of  fact  and  fiction,  one  of  which, 
her  "Letters  from  Japan,"  furnishes  us  with  the 
best  picture  of  life  at  the  Mikado's  Court.  Like 
Miss  Bacon's  "Japanese  Girls  and  Women,"  it  is 
even  now  a  classic.  Mrs.  Fraser  showed  herself 
exceedingly  kind  to  every  one  of  the  delegation 
from  Korea. 

The  voyage  from  Korea  was  far  from  mere 
routine.  Near  Japan  the  sea  became  very  rough, 
and  fish  and  seaweed  were  flung  upon  the  ship's 
bridge.  A  funeral  took  place  on  the  deep.  The 
usual  sights,  of  the  ocean  looking  like  a  millpond 
one  day  and  on  the  next  heaving  its  waves  sky- 
ward in  wrath,  the  flying  fish,  the  spouting  whales, 
the  phosphorescence,  the  ever  sociable  sea  gulls, 
the  oddities  of  the  Chinese  passengers  and  the 


On  First  Furlough — Home        217 

varied  peculiarities  of  other  specimens  of  human 
nature  varied  the  monotony  of  sea  life  from  first 
to  last. 

At  Yokohama  A.  called  on  Captain  Frank 
Brinkley,  at  the  office  of  The  Japan  Mail,  and  en- 
joyed meeting  this  accomplished  soldier,  archaeol- 
ogist and  scholar  and  seeing  the  plant  of  the  journal, 
which  for  a  half  century  has  done  so  much  to  present 
Japan  favourably  to  the  world,  and  whose  cor- 
respondent in  Korea  A.  had  been  for  seven  years. 
The  Mail  was  sent  to  A.  during  his  stay  at  home, 
on  furlough,  so  that  he  kept  informed  of  the  world- 
movement  in  the  Far  East. 

While  at  home,  after  a  month  under  his  father's 
roof,  A.  was  busy,  not  only  intellectually,  in  read- 
ing some  of  the  great  books  that  had  been  published 
during  the  time  of  his  labours  in  the  East,  socially 
in  visits  to  his  friends  and  relatives,  but  also  actively 
in  the  service  of  the  church.  He  presented  the 
claims  of  the  Korean  field  in  his  native  place,  in 
his  college  city,  and  in  many  other  places,  in  the 
Middle  States  chiefly,  though  he  was  also  one 
month  in  New  England.  He  hoped  to  rouse  active 
interest  and  more  expansive  enterprise  in  some  of 
the  more  apathetic  of  the  churches.  In  view  of  the 
later  wonders  of  grace  in  Korea  and  the  great 
success  of  the  Methodist  mission,  the  lack  of  inter- 
est, two  decades  ago,  seems  as  incredible  as  it  was 
mysterious. 

A.  visited  Dickinson  College,  which,  founded  by 
Presbyterians  in  1783,  came  under  Methodist 
control  in  1833. 


218       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

In  Yokohama,  a  few  months  before,  Professor 
Sharpe  of  Kyoto,  on  first  meeting  A.  declared  that 
he  saw  his  Swiss  descent  in  his  eyes,  and  A.  met 
two  students  named  Appenzeller  in  Dickinson 
College  and  heard  of  others  of  like  name  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  the  West.  A  study  of  the  directories 
of  American  cities  showed  that  some  were  favoured 
with  a  number  of  citizens  of  this  Swiss  name,  while 
others,  Chicago,  for  example  had  few  or  none. 

While  at  Lancaster,  January  18,  1893,  A.  made  a 
note  of  the  books  he  had  read  and  of  those  which 
he  proposed  reading.  This  list  shows  particularly 
that  he  was  becoming  more  and  more  immersed 
in  themes  pertaining  to  the  mother-continent,  and 
in  studying  the  works  of  the  master  writers  on  the 
subject  of  comparative  religion.  While  A.  was  a 
man  of  strongest  faith — faith  proved  and  demon- 
strated by  his  consecration  to  arduous  duty  and 
illustrated  in  manifold  works,  he  had  too  much 
sympathy  with  humanity,  and  the  grace  of  God 
was  too  rich  in  him,  to  be  a  mere  destroyer  of  other 
men's  religion,  as  some  of  the  weaker  brethren  and 
sisters  of  less  stalwart  faith  are  occasionally  apt 
to  be. 

It  is  so  easy  to  be  a  bigot  and  an  abolitionist 
of  the  religion  of  "the  heathen" — a  word  that  does 
not  occur  in  the  original  scriptures,  where  the  term, 
"nations,"  or  Gentiles,  from  gens,  a  nation,  is  most 
unhappily  translated  by  an  expression  implying 
contempt,  instead  of  the  sympathy,  which  Jesus 
ever  showed.  Not  once  did  the  Saviour  of  mankind 
use  the  term.  It  is  a  sign  of  Satan,  rather  than 


On  First  Furlough — Home        219 

of  Christ,  to  extinguish  even  a  dim  taper — to 
"quench  the  smoking  flax,"  in  the  inquiring  soul 
of  a  man  who  is  without  the  Christian's  faith.  The 
light  by  which  he  is  guided,  however  poor,  should 
be  fanned  to  flame  by  the  breath  of  the  Spirit, 
rather  than  put  out  by  the  Pharisee  in  Christian's 
livery.  It  is  better  and  far  more  Jesus-like  to  feel 
with  and  understand  the  pagan  so  as  to  fulfil  in 
him,  by  the  help  of  the  Father,  whose  love  is  un- 
known to  his  blinded  child,  those  hopes  and  yearnings 
which  the  lowest  and  most  ignorant  of  men  cherish. 
No  better  way  of  preparation  in  mental  discipline, 
to  meet  the  minds  of  thinking  men  of  Asia — the 
continent  of  thought — can  be  found  than  that  fol- 
lowed by,  and  commanded  of  our  Master,  who 
taught  the  spiritual  husbandman  to  abide  in  patience, 
even  when  he  knew  that  the  enemy  had  sown  tares 
with  the  wheat.  If  Jesus  so  taught,  surely  the 
disciple  should  not  strive  to  be  above  his  Lord. 

A.  having  been  a  true  student  and  knowing  church 
history  well  was  not  so  shallow  as  not  to  forsee  that, 
after  its  first  season  of  Christian  babyhood,  and  the 
feeding  of  its  little  ones  with  the  pure  milk  of  the 
Word,  there  must  inevitably  come  to  the  church 
of  Christ  in  Korea  a  time  of  growth  to  adulthood. 
Then,  with  teeth  grown  and  stomach  stronger, 
even  Korean  Christians  would  demand  something 
more  solid  than  spoon  meat,  even  that  which 
needed  to  be  cut,  chewed  and  digested,  in  order  to 
make  strong  men  and  stalwart  Christians.  Having 
neither  jealousy  nor  fear  for  the  future,  this  under- 
shepherd  and  teacher  of  men  wished  to  be  well 


220       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

prepared  both  to  lead  and  to  feed.  Of  him,  others 
wrote,  "Semper  paratus."  A.  was  a  minute  man 
in  the  war  that  has  no  discharge. 

While  at  home  A.'s  tour  of  the  churches  extended 
into  the  Eastern  States.  After  speaking  for  his 
old  chum,  Wadsworth,  in  the  M.E.  Church  at 
Phcenix,  R.  I.,  he  came  to  Boston  and  called  at  the 
biographer's  house,  next  to  the  Shawmut  Con- 
gregational Church,  on  Tremont  Street,  who  un- 
fortunately was  away  from  home.  The  latter  had 
written  to  A.,  when  in  Soul  to  greet  and  encourage 
him,  and  A.  had  sent  photographs  of  his  pupils 
and  himself,  which  were  made  use  of  in  an  address 
at  Northfield,  Mass,  while  in  attendance  upon  Mr. 
Moody 's  convention,  when  the  claims  of  Korea 
upon  American  Christians  were  urged  upon  that 
body  of  believers  from  many  states  and  lands. 

After  spending  from  late  July,  1892,  until  the  end 
of  June,  1893,  in  the  home  land,  preparations  were 
made  to  return,  the  plan  being  to  stop  two  or  three 
days  in  Chicago.  In  this  year  1893  Korea  was 
represented  for  the  first  time  in  the  United  States, 
or  indeed  in  any  foreign  country  except  in  Japan 
(over  a  thousand  years  before)  by  an  exhibition 
of  her  products  and  the  presence  of  enough  of  her 
people  to  give  Americans  some  idea  of  Korean 
costume  and  deportment.  It  is  true  that  the 
embassy  of  1882,  sent  to  ratify  the  Shufeldt  treaty, 
consisting  of  eleven  persons  had  been  seen  in  several 
of  the  large  cities  of  the  United  States,  and  that  in 
Washington,  at  the  National  Museum  there  was 
already  a  notable  collection  of  fancy  and  useful 


On  First  Furlough — Home        221 

Korean  curiosities,  arranged  in  the  most  effective 
manner  by  Dr.  Walter  Hough.  Appenzeller  had 
made  a  collection  of  Korean  articles  of  all  sorts 
for  the  Leland  Stanford  University,  expending 
the  $500  allowed  him  most  judiciously,  just  before 
leaving  on  furlough. 

Now,  in  1893,  tinder  the  energetic  direction  of 
Dr.  Horace  N.  Allen,  who  accompanied  the  embassy 
to  Chicago  and  Washington,  there  were,  besides 
two  white-robed  envoys,  ten  musicians  from  the 
Soul  Court.  The  latter  had  been  sent  against 
Dr.  Allen's  advice,  he  knowing  that  his  country- 
men were  not  able  to  appreciate  their  rendering  of 
Korean  music,  however  ancient  and  classical. 
The  men  of  drum  and  trumpet  were  quickly  de- 
patched  homeward,  because  no  assurance  had  been 
given  by  either  the  Government  or  the  Exposition 
authorities  that  their  expenses  would  be  met  if 
they  remained.  However,  a  very  creditable  dis- 
play of  things  Korean  was  seen  in  the  White  City. 
A.  was  happy  to  find  one  of  his  former  pupils  in 
charge,  who  gave  much  light  and  information 
to  inquirers  concerning  the  things  that  looked  so 
odd  and  strange — even  to  the  cloyed  eyes  of  visitors, 
to  whom  so  full  a  honeycomb  of  sweets  and  curiosi- 
ties was  gathered  in  the  Columbian  Exposition. 

While  A.  was  absent  in  America,  the  mission  kept 
expanding.  Dr.  Scranton  who  had  acted  as  over- 
seer was  later  appointed  by  Bishop  Mallalieu  super- 
intendent. This  left  Appenzeller  on  his  return  in 
1901,  more  free  for  evangelistic  tours  and  the  great 
tasks  of  putting  the  New  Testament  into  Korean, 


222       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

of  teaching  Christian  theology,  and  of  training  up 
Korean  preachers.  It  was  A.'s  firm  belief  that  Korea 
must  ultimately  be  evangelised  by  a  native  ministry. 
Christianity  must  doff  its  foreign  regimentals. 
It  was  in  Appenzeller's  heart,  also,  not  only  to 
dream  dreams  and  lay  plans,  but  to  work  for 
nothing  less  than  a  great  Christian  university  for 
Korea.  Once  more  in  his  old  home  in  Soul,  activities 
were  begun  again,  but  with  a  new  set  of  problems — 
the  problems  of  increasing  success.  During  1892, 
stations  were  opened  at  the  two  seaports,  Chemulpo 
on  the  west  and  Wonsan  on  the  east  coast,  and  in 
the  historic  city  of  Ping  Yang. 

Yet  the  political  situation  was  alarming.  The 
Tong  Haks,  or  champions  of  Oriental  culture,  were 
rising  in  that  armed  opposition  to  the  Government 
having  hatred  and  harm  to  all  foreigners  and 
especially  to  Christianity  in  view,  which  was  to 
bring  on  war  between  China  and  Japan.  Medical 
work  was  opened  at  Wonsan  by  Dr.  McGill  and  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Hall  began  healing  for  body  and  soul  in 
what  was  then  "the  Sodom  of  Korea" — Ping  Yang. 

At  first  the  men  in  this  city  "had  no  use"  for  the 
foreigners,  because  they  set  their  faces  like  a  flint 
and  their  hands  like  ice  lumps  against  the  whole 
system  of  society  that  depended  for  amusement 
on  dancing  girls  and  the  accompanying  drinking 
bouts.  The  missionaries  were  undaunted,  however, 
and  though  their  converts  were  imprisoned  and 
beaten,  both  persevered. 

Then  came  the  war.  A  host  of  ignorant  and  licen- 
tious Chinese  soldiery,  part  army  and  part  horde, 


On  First  Furlough— Home        228 

possessed  this  city  of  eighty  thousand  souls.  They 
looted  houses,  stole  property  and  assaulted  women. 
The  public  schools  of  Japan  in  battle  array  "faced 
a  lie  in  arms" — the  dogma  of  China's  universal 
sovereignty  that  made  chaff  of  solemn  treaties. 
The  Mikado's  star-capped  soldiers  struck  the  Chinese 
mob  and  scattered  it  to  the  winds.  The  prestige 
of  China  in  Korea  was  broken  forever. 

Coming  too  soon  into  the  poison-laden  air  of  the 
city,  then  a  shell  of  its  former  self,  Dr.  Hall  gave 
up  his  life.  In  1895,  Df-  W.  Arthur  Noble  took 
charge  of  the  work,  and,  reinforced  by  others,  an 
amazing  work  of  grace  followed,  of  which  skilful 
pens  have  told  and  will  tell.  Before  Appenzeller 
laid  down  his  work  and  passed  into  the  immediate 
presence  of  his  Master,  there  were  in  Ping  Yang 
scores  of  churches,  with  thousands  of  enrolled  mem- 
bers, as  many  inquirers  and  bible  students  and  homes 
renewed  hi  the  spirit  of  Jesus.  "What  hath  God 
wrought!" 


XXI 
A  Pioneer  of  Civilisation 

AS  soon  as  inquirers  began  to  flock  to  him, 
A.  saw  the  need  of  a  Christian  litera- 
ture, in  both  Chinese  and  English,  as 
well  as  Korean,  to  minister  to  these  pilgrims  of 
the  spirit.  There  were  Japanese  also,  in  and  out 
of  the  church,  who  wanted  food  for  the  mind. 
Most  educated  Koreans  were  able  to  read  the 
script  of  the  Central  Empire  and  bright  youths 
were  beginning  to  master  English.  So,  making 
a  modest  beginning,  he  opened  on  May  4,  1894, 
at  the  time  when  Morning  Calm  land  puts  on 
her  robe  of  flowers,  the  first  bookstore  for  Chris- 
tian and  foreign  literature  in  Korea.  From  within 
a  few  yards  of  where  had  stood  the  old  edicts 
denouncing  death  to  foreigners  and  a  curse  on 
treaty-makers,  the  new  light  was  soon  streaming 
out  over  the  land.  How  different  the  spirit  of  the 
messages'  "If  you  see  a  foreigner  (man  from 
over  the  sea)  kill  him;  he  who  lets  him  go  by  is  a 
traitor  to  his  country"  was  one.  The  other  was 
"Have  we  not  all  one  Father?"  Soon,  enlarging 
the  equipment  of  the  printing  press,  first  started  by 
Dr.  Ohlinger,  A.  added  a  book  bindery,  developing 
the  history  of  a  wonderful  agent  of  Christian  civili- 
sation and  means  of  diffusion  and  knowledge  and 

224 


A  Pioneer  of  Civilisation        225 

enlightenment  of  the  Korean  intellect — the  Meth- 
odist Printing  and  Publishing  House,  from  which 
issued  later  the  Korean  Repository  and  the  Korea 
Review.  This  monthly  magazine,  maintained  from 
1892  to  1906  (except  during  1893  and  1894), helped  to 
dissipate  the  thick  darkness  of  ignorance  regarding 
Korea,  in  which  most  benighted  Americans  and 
Europeans,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  interested 
souls,  rather  prided  themselves,  many  of  them  not 
knowing  just  where  Korean  land  lay,  or  realising 
that  her  twelve  millions  of  people  were  neither 
Chinese  nor  Japanese,  but  had  a  civilisation  of  their 
own.  The  Korean  Repository,  started  by  Rev. 
F.  Ohlinger  and  his  wife,  was  carried  on  for  one  year. 
When  revived  in  1895,  A.  became  its  editor,  and, 
under  this  name  and  management,  it  was  published 
until  the  end  of  1898,  when  Professor  Homer  C. 
Hulbert  continued  it  with  signal  ability,  as  the 
Korean  Review. 

A.  wrote  most  of  the  editorials,  which,  as  might 
be  expected,  are  expressed  in  clear  and  straight- 
forward style.  In  this  particular  line  of  work,  he 
had  very  little  assistance.  He  preferred  to  write 
the  leaders  himself  and  be  responsible  for  the  edito- 
rial column,  until  he  was  afterwards  joined  by  Rev. 
George  Heber  Jones,  whose  contributions  were 
models  of  vigour,  wit  and  clearness.  More  than 
once,  the  Korean  "Government" — that  festering 
mass  of  corruption  and  indirection — afraid  of  being 
roused  into  honesty,  real  reform  and  actual  govern- 
ment for  the  good  of  the  people,  goaded  the  United 
States  legation  into  suggesting  abridgment  of 


226       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

American  liberties;  but,  firmly  and  with  imperturb- 
able good  nature,  A.  kept  holding  the  lighted 
candle.  His  magazine  was  not  for  the  suppression 
but  for  the  publication  of  both  fact  and  truth. 
Later,  when  in  October,  1896,  a  Korean  Minister 
of  Education  issued  a  fiercely  polemic  book  entitled 
"The  Warp  and  Woof  of  Confucianism,"  even  the 
foreign  envoys  joined  in  a  unanimous  protest  against 
the  offensive  and  insulting  screed  of  the  very  erudite 
and  very  ignorant  bigot. 

When  it  was  thought  best  to  have  an  Asiatic 
Society  and  bring  together  those  most  interested 
in  making  scholarly  researches  into  Korean  his- 
tory, language,  law,  archaeology,  architecture,  re- 
ligion, folk-lore,  art,  symbolism,  manners  and  cus- 
toms— in  a  word  to  try  and  understand  the  people 
with  whom  resident  foreigners  were  trading,  or 
whom  they  were  trying  to  convert,  to  heal,  to  help 
altruistically  or  to  exploit  selfishly — a  few  choice 
spirits  began  the  work.  It  eventuated  that  only 
"a  remnant"  persevered.  Like  most  societies 
which  yield  no  revenue  and  little  or  no  social 
prestige — and  unlike  those  formed  long  after  the 
real  work  or  the  war  is  over  and  the  battle  won, 
like  our  patriotic  leagues  that  foster  aristocracy 
and  furnish  opportunities  for  cards,  dress,  refresh- 
ments or  social  display — this  Korean  Asiatic  Society, 
after  the  first  glow  of  enthusiasm  cooled,  had  a 
struggle  to  live.  It  required  too  much  toil,  personal 
sacrifice  and  special  abilities,  and  the  workers  were 
too  few.  It  was  revived  in  1912. 

Though   a   branch   of   the    Royal    (or   London) 


A  Pioneer  of  Civilisation         227 

Society  of  Great  Britain,  nearly  all  the  contributors 
of  papers  were  Americans.  Lack  of  taste,  ability, 
or  industry,  or  the  absorption  of  the  foreign  denizens 
in  what  are  supposed  to  be  "more  serious"  duties, 
with  the  natural  preferences  in  favour  of  personal 
comfort  to  the  unselfish  hard  work  required  of 
individuals  expected  to  prepare  papers,  doomed  the 
society  to  an  early  attack  of  coma,  if  not  of  death, 
though  resurrection  is  still  possible.  The  great 
political  overturnings  in  the  country  and  Govern- 
ment may  have  had  something  to  do  with  the 
disaster.  Conspicuous  among  the  missionaries 
who  found  time  to  be  both  a  scholar  and  a  gospel 
herald,  was  Eli  Barr  Landis,  M.D.,  in  charge  of  the 
medical  work  of  the  Church  of  England  Mission,  a 
Pennsylvanian  born  at  Lancaster,  December  18, 
1865,  and  a  former  Mennonite,  who  left  several 
posthumous  papers  of  great  value  and  his  valuable 
library  to  the  Society.  He  was  an  indefatigable 
student  of  all  things  Korean.  He  conducted 
both  a  hospital  and  an  orphange.  His  untimely 
decease  on  April  16,  1898,  was  a  sad  loss  to  his 
mission  and  to  Korea.  His  name  belongs  among 
the  great  Pennsylvanians  and  the  unselfish  lovers 
of  Korea. 

Nevertheless,  during  its  short  but  active  life 
three  creditable  volumes  of  Proceedings  were  issued. 
From  the  first  A.  was  ready  to  do  his  part  in  nour- 
ishing the  infant.  Besides  beginning  and  working 
hard  for  a  collection  of  books  on  Far  Eastern  sub- 
jects for  the  Society,  he  acted  as  librarian  and 
secretary  of  the  organisation. 


228       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

One  sad  feature  of  life  in  the  seaport  of  Asia 
and  tending  to  retard  the  coming  of  Christ's  king- 
dom, is  the  lack  of  sympathy  between  the  commercial 
and  miscellaneous  population  and  the  missionary 
community.  This  unaffected  indifference  or  hostility 
in  their  own  countrymen  and  the  novel  feeling  of 
belonging  to  "a  despised  class,"  is,  to  many  mis- 
sionaries, the  heaviest  of  crosses  to  bear.  There 
is  also  too  much  mean  gossip,  and  many  hard 
things  are  said  about  each  other  by  people  who  are 
apt  to  misunderstand,  or  fail  in  mutual  apprecia- 
tion. The  local  newspapers,  also,  are  ready  to 
serve  up  too  spicy  a  dish  of  tittle-tattle,  to  print 
the  correspondence  of  spiteful  and  disgruntled 
critics  of  Christianity,  and  to  open  their  columns 
as  sewers  to  renegades  and  pagans  of  all  sorts,  who 
have  gained  fluency  with  the  pen.  With  the  English 
taught  them  by  the  missionaries,  ungrateful  pupils 
can  show  how  contemptibly  small  they  can  make 
themselves. 

It  is  wholly  unnecessary  that  this  social  chasm 
should  exist,  even  though  much  of  it  may  be  ex- 
plained by  the  different  motives  of  life,  and  objects 
for  which  the  missionary  and  the  commercial  classes 
live  abroad.  Such  a  state  of  affairs,  however,  is  as 
harmful  as  it  is  unfortunate,  when  degraded  human 
nature,  both  of  pagans  and  nominal  Christians, 
takes  advantage  of  the  pitiful  situation. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  has  been  abundantly 
demonstrated  that  broad-minded  men  and  Chris- 
tians who  measure  up,  in  manhood,  altruism, 
humility  and  patience,  to  the  full  standard  of  the, 


A  Pioneer  of  Civilisation         229 

Master,  are  able  to  neutralise  this  mutual  antipathy. 
This  they  do,  by  bringing  all  men  together  on  the 
common  basis  of  their  hopes  and  fears,  wants  and 
needs.  The  great  missionary  apostle,  truest  of 
gentlemen — confessing  himself  debtor  both  to  the 
Greeks  and  the  barbarians — consorted  with  all 
classes  of  men.  It  is  mutual  parvanimity,  rather 
than  magnanimity,  that  divides  the  professional 
"religious"  and  the  average  layman,  making  the 
one  man  think  himself  exalted  above  the  others 
and  giving  him  apparently  the  attitude  of  a  Pharisee 
toward  a  Publican.  That  the  "hired  converter" 
so  often  becomes  a  target  for  the  gossip  of  the  club, 
which  reckons  him  an  outcast,  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  hong,  or  trader's  counter,  may  not  be 
wholly  the  fault  of  the  man  of  the  world. 

One  who  has  been  in  both  classes — a  missionary 
in  two  countries  and  a  man  of  ability  in  affairs — 
has  happily  spoken  on  this  point.  Dr.  H.  N.  Allen, 
a  diplomatist  in  Korea,  a  skilful  physician,  a  lover 
of  all  sorts  of  men,  without  regard  to  rank,  creed 
or  confession,  wrote  a  racy  book,  "Things  Korean." 
Possibly,  on  p.  177,  though  no  names  are  men- 
tioned, we  may  see  that  Appenzeller  was  one  of  the 
men  in  mind. 

"Merit  counts.  Let  a  gentlemanly  missionary 
come  to  this  community,  possessed  of  some  talent 
that  makes  him  a  desirable  acquisition,  whether 
it  be  a  good  voice  for  singing,  the  ability  to  make 
music  upon  some  instrument,  or  skill  in  some  good 
vigorous  game  of  athletics;  let  him  even  be  a 
good  story-teller,  or  be  simply  endowed  with  good 


230       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

sense  and  good  nature,  backed  by  learning,  and  he 
will  be  taken  up  gladly  and  find  real  human  sym- 
pathy, even  if  this  may  not  extend  to  his  work  for 
the  natives,  in  just  the  comprehensive  manner  he 
might  wish. 

"Further,  such  a  man  may  find  that  an  important 
side  issue  of  his  work  will  likely  be  the  giving  of 
sympathy  to  these  fellow-countrymen,  who  have 
their  own  trials  and  discouragements  in  the  new 
land,  and  in  so  doing  he  may  gradually  win  them 
to  the  ideals  left  behind  with  the  distant  home. 

"A  missionary  of  this  description,  and  I  have 
known  such,  who  has  something  to  give  to  the 
community  and  who  is  willing  to  give  it,  will  not 
be  ostracised  or  lack  for  sympathy  and  the  com- 
panionship of  his  kind.  He  will  on  the  contrary 
be  welcomed  and  be  made  a  part  of  that  little 
band,  and  it  will  be  for  him  to  say  just  how  much 
or  how  many  of  the  attentions  open  to  him  he  shall 
or  may  accept. 

"There  are  missionary  names  of  good  men,  some 
of  whom  are  now  long  dead,  which  are  revered  in 
the  communities  of  which  they  were  members, 
and  to  whom  more  than  one  prosperous  and  suc- 
cessful business  man  of  substance  and  position  in 
the  community  looks  with  deep  regard  as  to  one 
who  had  given  him  real  help  in  climbing  out  of 
the  rut  of  personal  gain  and  creature  comfort, 
or  what  may  have  passed  for  pleasure." 

Now  A.  was  such  a  lover  of  his  fellow-men  and 
of  mankind  in  general  and  could  see  so  much  good 
in  each  human  soul,  that  he  counted  it  a  joy  to 


A  Pioneer  of  Civilisation         231 

shepherd  any  needy  sheep,  black,  brown,  or  white. 
"Before  all  nations  is  humanity."  First  of  all  a 
spiritual  leader,  he  could  also  promote  whatever 
was  innocent  and  delightful.  A.  was  not  only  a 
Methodist,  a  Christian,  and  an  American,  but 
being  a  true  follower  of  the  Master,  he  was,  as  he 
needs  must  be,  in  conscience,  a  world  citisen.  For 
strangers  in  a  strange  land,  he  saw  the  need  of  a 
social  union,  where  men  and  women  of  all  ideas, 
creeds  and  convictions  could  meet  as  gentlemen  and 
ladies,  not  only  to  enjoy  each  other's  company, 
but  for  mutual  stimulus  to  maintain  the  good 
and  to  seek  the  better  things.  To  argue  that 
earnest  Christian  workers  needed  avocation,  as 
well  as  vocation,  would  be  wasting  platitudes.  He 
knew  too  well  by  experience,  what  spelling  and 
derivation  witnessed,  that  recreation  was  re- 
creation. So  he  led  in  the  formation  of  the  Soul 
Social  Union,  which  had  a  reading  room  with  the 
home  periodicals  on  file,  and  facilities  for  chat  and 
tea,  as  well  as  for  tennis  and  other  outdoor  games. 
It  might  be  necessary,  when  at  home  among  be- 
nighted people  who  imagine  that  missionaries  must 
always  be  on  their  knees  praying,  or  handing  around 
tracts,  to  excuse  and  explain  why  fun,  exercise  and 
variety  were  needed,  but  surely  not  to  the  thoughtful. 
Those  who  change  their  skies,  but  not  their  stead- 
fast minds  do  not  lose  their  practical  common 
sense.  The  wisdom  that  conserves  energy  is  the 
best. 

Apart  from  all  other  considerations,  the  yearnings 
for  one's  own  kind,  race,  and  civilisation  are  very 


232       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

strong,  whether  in  Lapland  among  the  Esquimaux, 
or  with  the  Japanese,  Chinese  and  Koreans  in 
lands  afar,  or  Americans  away  from  their  kin. 
"Home  Sweet  Home"  is  a  universal  sentiment. 
After  spending  long  hours  with  people  so  diverse 
from  one's  own  kind,  often  in  wearisome  or  nerve- 
wearing  restraint,  in  teaching  or  labours  manifold, 
the  need  of  social  relaxation  among  those  whose 
forms  of  speech  and  ways  of  life  are  like  one's  own, 
is  imperative.  This  A.  knew,  and  so  helped  to 
provide  the  balm  and  tonic. 

Civilised  mankind  in  cities  has  conquered  in 
large  measure  the  realm  of  darkness,  prolonging 
the  day,  adding  to  the  pleasures  of  life  and  by 
municipal  illumination  making  public  thorough- 
fares safer  than  could  an  army  of  soldiers  or  police- 
men. In  America,  Benjamin  Franklin  was  the 
inventor  of  the  four-sided,  or  all  round  glass  street 
lamps.  Now  cities  vie  with  each  other  in  the 
brilliancy  of  their  main  avenues,  making  a  night 
garden  that  blooms  with  flowers  of  light.  Until 
recent  years,  the  cities  of  Chinese  Asia  were  dark, 
except  when  the  queen  of  the  heavens  shed  her 
light  on  a  cloudless  night,  though  law  compelled 
everyone  who  went  abroad  to  carry  a  lantern.  It 
was  a  great  day  when,  on  March  4,  1891,  A.  walked 
forth  and  "saw  a  lamp  post  with  a  glass  for  the 
first  time  in  Soul."  The  posts  were  six  feet  high 
and  near  the  old  Mulberry  Palace.  In  time,  first 
the  palace  and  then  Korea's  capital  had  electric 
lights  installed  by  a  firm  of  Americans. 

On  first  settling  in  a  city,  which  the  home-bred 


A  Pioneer  of  Civilisation         233 

natives  thought  the  wonder  of  the  world,  it  seemed 
that  the  very  air  must  be  filtered  before  inhaling. 
This  was  not  merely  because  of  the  smoke  that 
twice  a  day  darkened  the  capital,  but  because  of  the 
foul  exhalations  from  unsewered  streets,  oozy  and 
lumped  with  garbage,  and  from  the  poison  of  the 
pestilence  that  walked  abroad.  Nevertheless  while 
the  air  might  be  endurable,  the  water  was  a  thousand 
times  worse.  Wells  and  drains  were  close  to  each 
other,  and  rarely  was  the  curb  sufficient  to  prevent 
either  the  flow  or  seepage  of  surface  water  from 
mingling  with  what  was  drunk.  It  was  quite 
common  to  see  groups  of  women  washing  clothes 
at  one  part  of  a  stream,  while  a  few  feet  below, 
in  the  same  water,  women  were  sousing  vegetables 
to  be  eaten,  either  raw  or  cooked.  It  was  necessary 
for  Christians,  who  wished  to  avoid  slow  suicide, 
to  boil  and  filter  their  daily  beverage.  At  first 
and  after  years  of  patient  labour  in  maintaining 
private  filtration  plants,  the  fastidious  aliens  in 
Soul  received  the  blessing  of  mountain  water 
brought  in  pipes  by  an  American  firm  in  sufficient 
quantities  to  serve  all  purposes  even  to  fighting 
the  fires  that  rage  frequently.  Good  beef,  care- 
fully inspected,  was  furnished  by  a  Japanese  butcher, 
for,  according  to  general  Korean  custom,  the  flesh 
of  cows  and  oxen  dying  of  disease  were  at  once  cut 
up  and  sold.  The  Korean  method  of  killing  was 
revolting  in  the  extreme  and  a  native  butcher 
shop  was  a  horrible  place  to  look  at.  The  Korean 
butcher  was  a  social  outcast  and  the  visible  proofs 
of  it  were  seen,  in  a  land  most  famous  of  all  on 


234       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

earth  for  its  headgear,  in  their  not  being  allowed 
to  wear  hats.  In  time,  however,  the  butcher's 
status  improved  so  that  when  permitted  to  cover 
his  head  with  honour  his  was  a  real  liberty  cap. 
Common  sense  in  Korea,  however,  having  at  last 
virtually  decreed  the  abolition  of  the  top-knot, 
the  forehead-binding,  lofty  and  wide-brimmed  hat 
goes  with  it,  and  under  the  new  rules  of  public 
hygiene,  the  man  who  supplies  flesh  food  to  human- 
ity bestows  more  attention  to  the  quality  of  his 
meat  than  to  fashions  of  head  clothing.  New 
Korea  buys  hats,  caps,  leather  shoes  and  foreign 
clothing  (with  adornments  and  jewelry)  by  the  ton. 
To  sum  up — of  that  type  of  a  nation-builder  and 
rejuvenator  of  society,  as  an  exponent  of  that 
Christianity  which  makes  over  both  the  man  and 
the  commonwealth,  A.  was  a  superb  type.  At 
first,  he  was  founder  of  a  school,  superintendent 
of  a  denominational  mission,  editor  of  a  religious 
newspaper,  president  of  a  union  tract  society, 
organiser  of  a  printing  and  publishing  plant,  manager 
of  a  bookbindery  and  bookshop,  librarian  of  an 
Asiatic  Society,  treasurer  of  the  Foreign  Cemetery 
Association  and  general  promoter  of  whatever 
made  better  men  and  women.  In  short,  he  was 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  forces  of  civilisation  and 
among  those  who,  in  the  van  of  progress,  were 
founders  of  pretty  much  everything  in  Korea  for 
the  benefit  of  foreigners,  as  truly  as  he  was  among 
the  first  leaders  in  evangelical  work  for  the  natives. 
When,  however,  the  time  was  ripe  for  concentration, 
he  showed  himself  above  all  things  the  preacher 


A  Pioneer  of  Civilisation 


of  the  good  news  of  God  and  translator  of  the 
Bible.  He  knew  when  to  disperse  abroad  and  when 
to  hold  his  hand  to  the  plough. 

Whether  travel,  at  home,  in  school,  on  the  street, 
in  the  translating  room  or  in  the  market,  A.  made 
a  good  companion.  With  native  or  foreigner, 
wherever  he  was,  there  were  fun,  cheer,  and  com- 
radeship. On  his  last  night  on  earth,  he  and  an 
American  miner  struck  up  a  warm  friendship  on 
shipboard.  Not  a  few,  alien  or  home-born,  were 
drawn  to  him  because  of  his  genial  mirth.  Hard 
work,  sticking  to  contracts,  doing  his  duty  —  these 
were  necessities.  He  held  himself  and  others  to 
them.  Cowardice,  shirking,  failure,  or  laziness, 
he  would  not  tolerate  in  man  or  woman.  Yet, 
when  the  Commandments  had  been  kept  and  the 
tale  of  bricks  and  straw  duly  made,  there  followed 
from  his  lips,  or  proffered  hand,  encouragement, 
thanks,  appreciation,  reward,  a  merry  jest,  as  the 
case  might  be.  He  lubricated  the  machinery  of 
human  intercourse,  over  the  counter,  at  the  wharf, 
on  the  street,  or  in  the  office,  with  the  oil  of  mer- 
riment. This  flowed  as  naturally  from  this  lover 
of  man  and  servant  of  God  as  the  illuminant,  from 
the  wells  of  his  native  Pennsylvania,  bubbled  up. 


XXII 
The  World  of  the  Imaginary 

WE  have  before  glanced  at  the  supposed 
activities  of  Korean  demons  in  ordinary 
times  and  when  their  victims  are  alive. 
Yet  these  malignant  spirits,  figments  of  a  diseased 
imagination,  are  by  no  means  confined  to  the 
little  things  or  affairs  of  life,  nor  are  they  only 
earth-  air-  or  water-born.  As  soon  as  man's  breath 
leaves  his  body,  they  multiply  their  terrors  to  the 
living  beyond  those  of  Fates  or  Furies.  What- 
ever these  spirits,  when  embodied  in  human  life, 
may  have  wrought,  their  potency  is  intensified 
when  vagrant  souls  get  loose  and  roam  at  large. 
As  the  living  are  but  a  small  fraction, .  in  com- 
parison with  the  vast  majority  of  the  dead,  the 
burden  of  what  is  malignant  or  avenging  upon  the 
living  is  something  almost  inconceivable.  The 
spirits  take  refuge  in  animals,  or  in  canny  or  in  un- 
canny places,  to  afflict  those  left  behind.  They 
are  liable  to  work  mischief  at  any  time  in  the  form 
of  disease,  insanity,  disgrace,  poverty,  ruin,  or  death 
in  its  most  horrible  forms.  The  night  is  the  time 
of  their  greatest  activity.  When  the  cocks  crow, 
men  that  have  been  terror-stricken  in  the  darkness, 
put  on  a  cheerful  face.  Though  occasionally  re- 
ported as  visible,  the  ghosts  and  spirits  disappear, 
becoming  quiescent,  at  the  first  streak  of  day. 

236 


The  World  of  the  Imaginary      237 

So  long  as  the  spirits  are  located,  they  may  be 
propitiated,  or  their  malignant  schemes  circum- 
vented, but  until  they  have  found  a  resting  place, 
they  are  apt  to  strike  and  afflict  with  unusual 
terrors.  Thus  it  happens  that  in  Korean,  as  in 
most  ancient  religion,  that  which  is  left  undone 
brings  relatively  far  more  calamity  than  any 
conformity  to  custom  can  ward  off.  If  a  village 
is  stricken  with  plague,  pestilence  or  famine,  it  is 
because  some  rule,  ordained  by  the  ancients,  has 
been  disobeyed  or  forgotten,  or  some  jot  or  tittle 
of  ritual  in  propitiation  to  the  mountain  spirits 
has  been  overlooked.  By  means  of  this  crude 
philosophy,  the  woes  that  afflict  humanity,  the  pain 
and  disease,  the  disappearance  of  children,  the  loss 
of  what  is  valued,  are  accounted  for.  In  an  age 
of  science,  we  explain  small-pox,  cholera,  typhus, 
and  other  morbid  conditions  by  the  law  of  cause 
and  effect,  which  research  has  revealed.  The 
Korean  pagan,  as  did  our  own  benighted  ancestors, 
takes  a  simpler  view.  He  ascribes  every  phenom- 
enon in  the  human  body,  the  weather,  the  whole 
course  of  nature,  and  indeed  whatever  is  visible 
or  invisible,  to  the  spirits. 

One  has  to  call  up  all  the  imaginary  creatures 
of  his  own  fairy  land,  that  were  once  realities  to 
his  Teutonic  fathers,  who  once  worshipped  them 
as  gods,  or  propitiated  them  as  servants  of  the 
unseen  powers,  to  know  what  are  the  demons, 
goblins,  elves,  dragons,  the  earth  gods,  hill  gods, 
"mountain  uncles"  and  other  denizens  of  Korean 
earth,  air,  and  water.  Some  of  the  native  names 


238       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

of  their  imaginary  visitants  are  interesting.  Most 
famous  is  Tok-gabi,  who  exceeds  all  others  of  his 
kind  in  doing  mischievous  stunts,  or  in  playing 
lively  pranks.  He  is  the  will-of- the- wisp  in  the 
swamp,  the  mountain  fire,  or  the  phosphorescence 
of  decaying  wood.  He  throws  sand  against  the 
paper  windows.  He  tumbles  the  pot-lid  inside 
the  cooking-pot.  He  dances  on  the  kitchen  shelves, 
rattles  the  dishes,  and  even  clips  off  top-knots. 
Then  there  is  the  Queechin,  and  many  others  of 
the  same  ilk,  whose  names  are  better  in  the  diction- 
aries than  on  these  pages,  which  eschew  as  far  as 
possible  all  outlandish  names  and  words. 

One  of  the  first  effects  of  science  and  comparative 
literature  will  be  to  reduce  these  imaginary  beings 
to  the  grade  of  harmless  fairies,  and  the  beliefs 
founded  on  them  to  the  infusorial  dust  of  ages. 
The  same  process  has  already  been  wrought  in  our 
own  mental  history  and  by  God's  grace  will  be 
accomplished  in  Korea.  True  Christian  literature 
will  banish  all  gods  and  all  plurality  of  deity,  in 
order  that  He  only  may  reign  Who  is  alone  both 
to  save  and  to  destroy. 

A.  was  powerfully  impressed  with  the  entreaty 
of  Paul  to  his  fellow  soldiers  of  Christ  to  "take  on 
the  whole  armour  of  God,"  since  the  contest  was  not 
with  flesh  and  blood,  but  with  unseen  forces  of  evil. 
One  of  the  first  notices  from  the  king  in  the  palace 
(in  which  were  250  clowns,  300  archers,  300  criers, 
and  a  mob  of  eunuchs,  1000  dancing  girls  and  mis- 
cellaneous hangers-on,  numbering  several  thousand, 
all  leeches  sucking  the  blood  of  the  body  politic) 


The  World  of  the  Imaginary      239 

was  to  foreigners  not  to  be  frightened  at  the  noise 
of  guns  on  New  Year's  eve,  when  the  populace 
drove  off  evil  spirits  by  "burning"  gunpowder. 

Ephesians  and  Koreans  were  alike  in  their 
minds,  for  with  them,  both  the  air,  heights,  and 
depths  were  full  of  demons  and  every  sort  of  malev- 
olent creature  that  diseased  fancy  could  spawn. 
Without  seeking  to  master  the  metaphysics  of  the 
situation,  Appenzeller's  first  and  last  idea  was  to 
start  and  keep  the  demons  on  the  run. 

When  his  labourers  were  digging  the  foundations 
for  the  Pai  Chai  school  in  Soul,  they  were  in  abject 
fear  of  the  ghosts  and  spirits  that  lurked  in  the 
soil.  A  foreign  tree,  fir  or  elm,  said  to  have  been 
planted  during  the  Japanese  invasion  of  1592,  which 
had  stood  on  the  site  of  the  school  was  blown  down 
in  1885.  As  a  powerful  spirit  lived  in  this  tree, 
no  one  dared  to  take  away  or  burn  the  wood;  but 
after  A.  bought  the  ground  the  ghost  left.  Among 
other  things  found  to  scare  folks  was  the  stone 
tablet  inscribed  to  some  ancient  person.  Around 
this,  the  natives  gathered  with  awe.  A.,  who  had 
come  to  give  freedom  to  the  minds  of  men,  had  the 
trover  respectably  cleaned  and  then  kept  it  as  a 
historical  relic.  Aghast  at  his  neglect,  or  defiance 
of  the  ghosts,  they  expected  to  see  the  possessor 
hurt,  or  plagued,  for  not  reburying  the  token,  and 
thus  calming  the  spirits  of  the  dead.  A.'s  smile 
and  wit  quieted  their  fears,  and  succeeding  days 
and  years  helped  to  improve  the  climate  of  belief, 
as  prosperity  followed.  In  a  word,  ghosts  and 
demons  alike  made  way  for  truth  and  education. 


240       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

Millions  of  these  stone  tablets  He  buried  in  Korean 
soil.  Although  those  of  wood  quickly  decay,  yet  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  market,  Korean  mortuary 
pottery  and  sacrificial  utensils  are  sufficient  in 
quantity  and  accessibility  to  tempt  marauders, 
while  from  the  view  of  art,  they  are  sufficiently 
attractive  and  tasteful  to  excite  cupidity.  Almost  all 
ancestral  tablets  are  buried  after  five  years. 

Korean  folk-lore,  besides  lacking  the  beauty  of 
the  Greek,  or  even,  for  the  most  part  the  fairy 
features  of  the  Japanese,  has  for  its  chief  burden 
the  mischief  of  the  spirits,  or  the  deviltry  of  things 
unseen.  There  is  no  fairy  godmother  in  the  Korean 
tales,  little  of  the  forest  lore,  and  few  of  the  attrac- 
tive features  which  show  how  much  of  life's  phenom- 
ena were  in  old  time  explained  by  the  pre-ancient 
dominance  of  woman  as  the  ruler  of  the  home. 
Buddhism  lightens  the  general  burden  of  the  degra- 
dation of  woman,  but  as  a  rule  in  the  pragmatic 
view  of  the  Confucianistic  stories,  she  is  low  and  of 
little  worth.  Out  of  the  Shamanistic  world  have 
issued  the  greater  number  of  the  popular  beliefs; 
and  against  these,  as  if  they  were  high  walls,  the 
foreign  teachers  in  Korea  were  continually  running. 
These  native  notions  hindered  progress  and  enter- 
prise as  if  they  were  rocks  in  the  road,  or  landslides 
in  the  path.  How  to  rout,  scatter,  banish,  or 
dissipate  them  into  harmless  fun  or  dream  stuff 
was  A.'s  study  and  care. 

When  in  July,  1889,  it  came  to  allotting  the  bound- 
aries of  the  foreign  cemetery  and  the  burial  of  Chris- 
tian dead,  a  hostile  army  of  occupation,  outnumber- 


The  World  of  the  Imaginary      241 

ing  any  that  Genghis  Khan  or  Napoleon  ever 
gathered,  stood  ready  to  contest  the  right  of  the 
aliens  to  disturb  either  the  soil,  or  the  demons  that 
seemed  to  own  it.  In  the  first  place,  how  dare  these 
foreign  people  use  land  and  make  graves,  without 
consulting  and  paying  roundly,  the  geomancers 
and  witches  who  were  to  placate  the  spirits?  In  the 
second  place,  since  legions  of  demons  lived  in  the 
ground,  air,  and  water,  many  would  certainly  get 
loose  and  make  trouble  for  the  Koreans  who  lived 
in  the  houses  near  by.  To  crown  all,  after  a  wall 
had  been  built  to  enclose  the  cemetery,  it  was  noted 
that  close  to  the  gateway  was  a  demon  shrine,  one 
of  thousands  in  the  land.  The  superstitious  people 
in  the  neighbourhood  imagined  that  to  bring  the 
corpses  of  foreigners  in  through  the  gate  would 
provoke  the  ire  of  the  spirits,  and  they  therefor 
violently  insisted  that  the  wall  on  the  opposite 
side  should  be  broken  and  the  bodies  brought  in 
through  this  breach.  After  the  land  had  been 
allotted  and  the  work  of  grading  and  improvement 
begun,  under  Appenzeller's  personal  direction, 
such  popular  excitement  was  created  that  it  was 
feared  the  work  could  not  continue. 

Appenzeller  was  chosen  treasurer  and  general 
manager  of  the  Cemetery  Corporation,  whose  final 
regulations  were  made  in  June  1894.  Although 
it  seemed  at  first  absurd  to  yield  to  popular  madness, 
yet  since  this  was  the  first  land  granted  by  the  king 
to  aliens  outside  the  city  walls,  it  might  be  wiser 
to  make  a  compromise,  for  the  present. 

Meanwhile  the  corpses  were  carried  through  a 


242       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

breach  in  the  wall  on  the  other  side,  and  in  patience 
A.  waited  until  something  should  turn  up,  by  which 
the  spirits  and  the  popular  superstitions  alike 
should  be  given  a  quietus  forever,  and  the  people 
of  the  neighbourhood  sleep  in  peace,  untroubled  by 
ghosts,  demons,  or  other  phantasms. 

It  may,  or  may  not,  have  been  about  this  time, 
that  the  general  sense  of  trust  in  A.'s  wit  and  ability 
to  find  the  path  out  of  a  tangle  of  difficulties  was 
most  amusingly  illustrated.  One  of  the  biographer's 
many  informants,  on  three  continents,  was  in  the  Club 
room,  when  he  "overheard  some  non-devout  foreign 
residents,  who  were  at  billiards ' '  discussing  some  diffi- 
cult problem  of  enterprise.  One  of  them  closed  the 
debate  by  saying,  "strike  hard  and  trust  in  Appen- 
zeller."  They  knew  that  what  was  not  initiated  by 
the  American  legation  or  for  commercial  purposes 
would,  most  likely,  be  led  by  the  Pennsylvanian. 

No  country  is  more  famous  for  its  skilled  grave 
thieves  and  expert  desecrators  of  tombs  than  is 
Korea,  for  no  custom  is  more  common,  than  that 
of  seeking  revenge  on  the  living  by  molesting 
the  resting  places  of  the  dead.  It  seemed  for  a 
time  as  if  the  idea  of  a  Christian  cemetery,  as  a  quiet 
place  of  beauty,  sacred  from  all  intrusion,  properly 
enclosed  and  adorned  with  appropriate  entrance- 
architecture,  with  the  dead  carried  to  their  resting 
place,  not  by  drunken  roughs  of  the  lowest  sort,  but  by 
devout  men  was  hopeless,  when  happily  a  solution  was 
unexpectedly  found  in  gunpowder.  The  jungle  of 
superstitions  and  swarms  of  deviltry  that  threatened 
the  peace  of  Christians  was  broken  by  Russian  rifles. 


NEW  YEAR'S  OFFERING  TO  THE  SPIRITS. 


The  World  of  the  Imaginary      243 

One  of  the  Czar's  sailors  died  in  Soul,  and  Mr. 
Waeber  the  Russian  envoy  inquired  of  Appenzeller 
as  to  orders  to  be  given  to  the  officer  in  charge  of 
the  firing  squad.  The  American  advised  him  to 
enter  through  the  gate  and  scatter  the  demons. 
Stiffened  in  his  determination  by  Appenzeller, 
despite  the  mob,  the  Russian  lieutenant  flatly 
refused  to  have  the  brave  tar's  body  carried  around 
to  the  only  entrance  which  the  demon-doctors 
approved  of,  and  had  it  borne  to  the  proper  gate. 
Then  ordering  the  bearers  of  the  bier  to  set  down 
the  corpse  at  the  spot  where  the  future  imposing 
gateway  was  to  be  built,  he  had  the  rifles  of  the 
firing  squad  point  up  the  slope  of  the  hills — that 
is,  in  the  face  of  the  host  of  devils,  and  then  gave 
the  order  for  the  (three)  volleys.  The  hills  gave 
back  the  echo,  the  welkin  reverberated,  the  spirits 
fled,  and  the  victory  was  won.  From  that  day, 
it  being  believed  that  the  demons  had  been  shot 
away,  the  pathway  of  enterprise  in  the  further 
development  and  adornment  of  the  cemetery  was 
one  of  peace.  The  demon-shrine  has  long  since 
fallen  into  ruin,  while  on  this  bluff  overlooking 
the  glorious  Han  River,  in  a  fair  garden  flowers 
bloomed  as  the  protest  of  the  resurrection  hope 
against  the  might  and  mystery  of  death,  stones  of 
record  and  the  emblems  of  the  resurrection  rose  in 
multiplying  evidences,  as  the  numbers  of  those 
increased  whom  loved  ones  gave  back  to  God,  as 
pledges  of  their  faith  in  the  Father's  House  of 
Many  Mansions,  and  in  Him  as 

"Good  when  he  gives,  supremely  good 
Nor  less  when  he  denies." 


XXIII 
Yoke  Fellows  in  the  Gospel 

TO  secure  the  best  results  in  the  kingdom  of 
God,  a  good  missionary  must  be  of  a  co- 
operative disposition.     The  tendencies    to 
independent  enterprise  in  the  mission  field  are  great, 
and  the  temptations  to  develop  oddities  in  personal 
peculiarities  is  in  some  persons  still  greater.     These 
often  lead  to  inconsequence  and  waste  of  effort. 
Many  a  man's  life  of  labour  on  Asian  soil  is  as  a 
river  that,  after  a  course  of  hundreds  of  miles,  loses 
itself  in  desert  sands. 

Cranks  and  theorists  have  not  been  wanting  even 
in  the  Korean  field.  Some  stories,  as  amusing  on 
one  side,  as  they  are  painful  on  the  other,  could  be 
told  of  men  and  women  who  have  cast  aside  the 
results  of  experience  and  tried  to  "hustle  the  East." 
In  attempting  to  force  unduly  the  processes  of  spirit- 
ual growth,  they  have  flouted  the  dictates  both 
of  the  Saviour  and  of  common  sense  in  spurning 
co-operation  and  brotherhood.  A.  met  such  persons 
and  good  humouredly  heard  their  arguments,  or 
quietly  warned  them  of  their  folly,  or  rebuked  their 
hot-headed  impudence,  while  safeguarding,  as  far 
as  might  be,  his  own  flocks  from  the  possible  ravages 
of  those  who  flouted  alike  the  bishop's  consecration, 

244 


Yoke  Fellows  in  the  Gospel        245 

the ' '  dirty  hands ' '  of  the  presbytery,  or  the ' '  slavery ' ' 
of  the  mission  boards.  With  those,  however,  who 
came  as  true  yoke-fellows  to  bear  and  share  the 
burdens  of  toil,  A.'s  hearty  welcome  and  sympathetic 
spirit  were  confessed  by  all.  Not  only  with  Chris- 
tians of  his  own  land,  culture  or  speech,  but  with 
the  natives  also,  was  this  spirit  of  co-operation 
manifest. 

One  of  the  best  class  of  testimonies  to  the  value 
of  his  life  and  work  comes  from  the  Koreans  them- 
selves, since  the  name  of  Appenzeller  is  known 
throughout  the  peninsula.  Many  have  gladly 
borne  witness  that  he  first  "broke  open  their  hearts." 
Full  of  suspicion  and  strange  notions  at  first,  they 
were  disarmed  and  melted  by  frankness  and  A.'s 
evident  willingness  to  be  co-operative,  rather  than 
patronising  or  magisterial.  The  walls  of  restraint 
were  levelled  and  they  yielded  their  hearts  in 
sincerity  to  their  foreign  teacher.  "It  was  a  great 
step  towards  wiping  out  racial  prejudice  and 
bringing  a  reign  of  mutual  Christian  trust,  born 
of  a  keener  insight  into  our  common  hopes  and  a 
participation  therein."  In  this  great  and  Christ- 
like  work,  not  only  Dr.  Scranton,  but  the  one — 
greatest  when  without  titles — whom  all,  of  any 
creed  or  nation,  call  "Brother  Jones,"  was  notably 
co-operative. 

Naturally  the  broad  and  far  reaching  plans  of 
the  pioneers  to  occupy  not  only  the  capital,  but 
the  whole  country,  could  be  but  slowly  realised. 
The  great  Methodist  Church  North  had  many 
other  missions  to  maintain  and  Korea  was  still 


246       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

only  as  a  seashell  to  most  Americans.  The  two 
chief  seaports,  Chemulpo  and  Fusan,  must  be  first 
held  as  citadels,  for  here  the  best  and  the  worst 
of  the  nation  and  of  the  outside  world  would  come. 
Here  the  strongest  forces  of  good  and  evil  would 
meet  in  grapple.  Nevertheless,  in  this  situation 
of  the  Korean  away  from  home,  there  was  hope. 
The  very  fact  that  the  native  was  far  from  his 
village  graveyard  and  local  demons  made  his 
heart  the  more  accessible  to  the  new  religion.  In 
all  ancestor-worship-ridden  countries,  the  pagan, 
when  separated  from  the  ancestral  graves  and 
ghostly  influences,  is  all  the  more  sensitive,  as  he  is 
free  to  the  gospel  call. 

To  the  petition  in  1886  for  two  new  men,  Rev. 
George  Heber  Jones  from  Mohawk,  N.  Y.  and  Rev. 
Franklin  Ohlinger,  transferred  from  China,  had 
responded.  These,  with  perhaps  a  few  others, 
may  be  reckoned  among  the  pioneers.  Grand  was 
the  procession  of  those  who  came  to  give  health 
and  salvation,  as  well  the  body  as  the  soul.  It  was 
the  Lord  who  gave  the  word,  "heal  the  sick,"  but 
the  women  as  well  as  the  men  published  it  and 
literally  made  the  Christ-word  life  and  health  to 
the  Koreans.  Of  those  natives,  who  at  this  date, 
1912,  have  been  healed  or  helped,  the  number  is 
not  short  of  half  a  million.  Shining  are  the  names 
of  the  healers — Scranton,  the  leader,  McGill,  Hall, 
Busteed,  Folwell,  and  Sherman,  all  male  physicians 
sent  out  by  the  Methodist  Mission  Board;  besides 
those  prophetesses  of  health,  Drs.  Meta  Howard, 
Rosetta  Sherwood  (Mrs.  Hall),  Mary  M.  Cutler, 


Yoke  Fellows  in  the  Gospel        247 

Lillian  Harris,  and  Emma  Ernsberger,  of  the 
Woman's  Board.  These  from  afar  were  joined  by, 
or  "nursed  at  thy  side,"  oh  Methodist  Church! 
Mrs.  Esther  Kim  Pak.  This  first  Korean  physician 
trained  in  western  science  and  methods  in  Soul 
was  the  daughter  of  a  native  gentleman  first  em- 
ployed by  Appenzeller  in  his  home,  and  she  was  a 
pupil  in  Mrs.  Scranton's  school  for  girls.  She 
secured  her  education,  chiefly  through  the  energy 
and  devotion  of  Mrs.  Hall,  at  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University.  Then  after  serving  her  own  people, 
she  joined  "the  noble  army  of  martyrs"  in  this 
land,  once  the  den  of  typhus  and  malaria,  but  now 
made  wholesome  by  science  and  through  sacrifice. 

For,  an  oblation  as  noble  as  the  patriot's  for  his 
country,  when  his  blood  reddens  his  native  soil, 
was  this  sacrifice  of  America's  best  manhood  and 
womanhood  for  Korea.  One  by  one  the  physicians 
laid  down  their  lives.  Five  out  of  the  eleven 
died.  Esther  Pak,  Wm.  J.  Hall,  Lillian  Harris, 
sleep  in  the  soil,  Drs.  Busteed  and  Sherman,  worn 
out  returned  home  to  die.  With  these,  and  with 
his  helpers  in  the  school,  or  at  the  printing  press, 
W.  Arthur  Noble,  George  C.  Cobb,  Homer  B. 
Hulbert,  and  D.  A.  Bunker,  and  last  but  not  least, 
the  veteran  S.  A.  Beck,  Appenzeller  was  true  yoke- 
fellow, shirking  no  labours  or  burdens,  but  ever 
effectually  working  in  hearty  co-operation. 

The  American  Methodists  may  not  only  be 
humbly  thankful  to  God  for  sending  them  so  noble 
a  personality  to  begin  woman's  work  for  women  as 
Mrs.  Scranton,  mother  of  the  physician,  but  also 


248       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

for  her  able  and  efficient  helpers  and  successors. 
These  have  laboured  in  the  Pear  Flower  School 
(Ewa  Hak-tang),  so  named  by  the  King  of  Korea, 
and  since  1900,  housed  in  a  fine  brick  building. 
Here  have  taught,  and  given  to  hundreds  of  Korean 
girls  the  only  education  they  ever  received,  Miss 
Louisa  C.  Rothweiler,  Margaret  J.  Bengel  (Mrs. 
George  Heber  Jones),  Mary  Harris  (Mrs.  Folwell), 
Josephine  O.  Paine,  Lulu  E.  Frey  (Mrs.  Hugh 
Miller),  and  Mary  R.  Hillman.  In  another  line 
of  most  needed  education,  the  raising  up  of  trained 
woman  nurses,  Miss  Edmunds  has  been  the  leader. 
Perhaps  nearest  to  A.  in  pioneering  and  manifold 
labours,  stood  Dr.  Scranton;  in  educational  tasks, 
Mr.  D.  A.  Bunker;  in  direct  evangelistic  work, 
Mr.  Jones;  in  literary  succession  and  expansion, 
Mr.  Hulbert;  in  comradeship,  from  first  to  last, 
Dr.  Horace  G.  Underwood,  and  in  Bible  translation, 
Dr.  J.  S.  Gale.  It  has  been  given  to  some  of  these 
men,  within  twenty-five  years,  to  greet,  in  some 
Korean  families,  four  generations  of  Christians — 
silver-haired  saints  and  children  in  the  covenant. 
In  books  written  by  Dr.  G.  H.  Jones,  J.  S.  Gale 
and  H.  C.  Underwood  one  will  find  fuller  lists  of 
Appenzeller's  colleagues  and  fellow-workers. 

A.  felt  that  the  printing  press,  founded  by  Dr. 
Ohlinger,  was  his  own  favourite,  though  adopted 
child.  He  had  watched  over  it  tenderly  from  the 
beginning,  but  having  seen  it  grow  to  stalwart 
proportions,  under  the  daily  care  of  Mr.  S.  A.  Beck, 
he  was  glad  to  hand  it  over  to  one  who  could  fulfil 
handsomely  both  the  executive  and  the  scholarly  re- 


Yoke  Fellows  in  the  Gospel        249 

quirements.  Homer  B.  Hulbert,  a  graduate  of 
Dartmouth  College  and  Union  Theological  Seminary 
of  New  York  city,  and  long  in  educational  service 
in  Korea,  conducted  the  Trilingual  Press,  until 
its  output  included  over  a  million  pages  annually. 
He  also  edited  with  signal  ability  the  Korean  Reposi- 
tory, wrote  the  History  of  Korea,  compiled  text- 
books and,  as  the  friend  of  the  country  and  people, 
sent  out  a  stream  of  light  that  has  helped  mightily 
the  gospel  cause  and  millions  of  Koreans.  In 
"The  Vanguard,"  Beck,  the  master  of  the  press  is 
veiled  under  the  name  of  "Gilbert,"  and  the 
"power-house"  is  thus  pictured. 

"By  dint  of  American  enterprise,  the  hum  and 
roar  of  a  pressroom  was  heard  in  the  quiet  abode 
of  the  ancients,  where  Foster  and  Gilbert  were. 
Out  of  this  sweat  chamber,  besmeared  with  oil  and 
soot  and  manned  by  bronze  orientals,  came  forth 
pages,  thousands  of  them  white  as  snow.  ...  In 
Korean  they  spoke  a  new  thought  to  this  waiting 
people.  .  .  With  Gilbert  (Rev.  H.  G.  Underwood) 
and  Foster  to  translate  and  Willis  (Rev.  S.  A. 
Moffett)  to  organise  a  carrying  combine,  they 
[tracts,  Bible  portions,  booklets  in  Korean]  were 
pushed  to  the  farthest  limits  of  the  land.  Away  up 
on  the  Yalu,  they  were  to  be  found  papering  the 
walls,  sometimes  upside  down  and  inside  out;  but, 
never  mind,  send  on  more,  on  to  distant  Russia 
and  away  east  into  the  little  hamlets  by  the  Sea 
of  Japan.  The  shriekings  of  the  press  have  grown, 
not  ceased,  and  sandalled  feet,  bearing  the  message, 
kick  up  the  dust  on  all  the  mountain  highways.  .  .  . 


250       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

The  great  machines  that  began  with  almost  nothing, 
rolled  their  million  pages." 

Thus  by  preaching,  teaching,  translating,  journeys 
oft  on  foot  and  horseback,  personal  interviews  with 
inquiring  souls,  was  the  gospel  seed  sown  and  the 
way  made  ready  for  the  shoutings  of  triumph, 
which  to-day  are  raised  from  a  half  million  throats 
out  of  the  depths  of  happy  hearts  cleansed  by  the 
spirit.  Who  thought  when  the  doors  of  the  Hermit 
Nation  swung  ajar,  that  in  one  generation,  over 
two  hundred  thousand  souls  would  be  enrolled  in 
a  church  that  paid  its  own  way  and  fed  daily  on 
the  Word  of  God?  LAUS  DEO  ! 

His  multifarious  labours  were  beginning  to  tell 
upon  Appenzeller,  changing  his  brown  hair  to  grey 
and  giving  him  the  look  of  a  man  growing  old  fast. 
He  had  made  it  a  principle,  as  he  wrote  in  his 
diary,  of  asking  from  his  bishop  no  favours,  or 
appointments,  but  only  hard  work.  In  1898,  a 
short  season  of  rest  became  imperative  and  A. 
made  a  sea  trip,  with  a  companion,  north  to  Vladi- 
vostok, Russian  Siberia,  on  the  Japanese  steamer 
Sagami  Maru.  As  they  steamed  up  the  Bay  of 
Peter  the  Great,  the  war  ship  Deutschland  was 
seen  carrying  Prince  Henry  of  Germany  homeward, 
he  having  just  finished  a  visit  to  this  Russian 
fortress-city,  whose  name  means  Dominion  of  the 
East.  It  was  once  fondly  expected  in  St.  Peters- 
burg that  Russia  should  here  defy  her  enemies  on 
land  and  sea,  defend  herself  from  possible  aggres- 
sion, and  thence  move  forward  to  humble  Japan, 
control  China  and  dominate  eastern  Asia. 


Yoke  Fellows  in  the  Gospel        251 

A.  was  astonished  at  the  strength  of  the  apparently 
impregnable  fortress  commanding  the  harbour,  and 
at  the  solidity  of  the  brick  and  stone  structures  in 
the  city.  He  met  Alexieff,  then  virtually  the 
Russian  dictator  of  the  region,  who  afterwards  was 
the  chief  instrument  in  causing  the  awful  blood- 
shed and  waste  of  the  Russo-Japanese  war.  His 
secretary,  an  American  officer  in  Russian  service, 
named  Stephen  A.  Garfield,  had  known  also  our 
president  of  the  same  name.  At  Soul,  one  of  the 
ablest  and  most  congenial  Russians  was  Mr.  Waeber, 
with  whom  A.  was  on  terms  of  intimacy.  Many 
men  able  to  judge  believe  there  would  have  been 
no  Russo-Japanese  war,  had  Waeber  been  kept 
by  the  Czar  at  Soul. 

In  travelling  round  Vladivostok,  A.  found  that 
the  Chinese  had  control  of  the  harbour  boat  business; 
that  the  Koreans,  with  many  of  whom  he  talked, 
held  the  junk  trade ;  while  the  Russians  monopolised 
land  traffic  and  whatever  moved  on  wheels.  A. 
and  his  companion  mounted  a  drosky  and  the  big 
horse  rushed  and  galloped  around  at  a  lively  rate. 
The  Americans  visited  the  chief  buildings,  reared 
mostly  by  the  labour  of  Chinese  artisans.  A.  met 
one  of  his  former  pupils,  who  had  an  American 
father  and  a  Chinese  mother.  In  the  museum 
and  library,  he  saw  a  Russian-Korean  phrase  book 
of  1874  and  was  interested  in  looking  over  the 
collection  of  works  on  the  peninsular  country  and 
language. 

This  visit  to  Russia  had  but  one  effect  on  Appen- 
zeller.  It  was  to  confirm  and  strengthen  his  faith 


252       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

in  the  civilisation  of  those  countries  founded  on 
public  schools,  general  education,  self-government, 
free  religion  and  self-control;  as  against  the  systems 
of  society,  government  and  church  built  on  arbitrary 
one-man  power,  with  priests,  soldiers  and  bureauc- 
racy as  their  instruments.  More  than  ever,  he 
gloried  in  being  an  American. 


XXIV 
Second  Visit  Home 

THE  manifold  labours  pressing  upon  one  who, 
as  pioneer  and  steadfast  worker,  was  one 
of  the  most  active  in  a  great  mission,  which, 
as  to  numbers,  was  but  poorly  manned,  had  begun 
to  tell  fearfully  upon  the  stalwart  Pennsylvanian. 
In  1904,  Dr.  W.  B.  Scranton  wrote: 

"The  Appenzeller  some  of  us  knew  twenty  years 
ago  and  the  Appenzeller  who  left  our  midst  re- 
cently were  indeed  one  man  in  natural  qualities 
and  persistence  of  characteristics,  but  in  general 
physical  appearance  quite  dissimilar.  .  .  his  whole 
life  force  going  out  into  the  work  which  occupied 
and  even  consumed  him.  When  he  went  from  us, 
it  was  as  another  man.  .  .  .  He  was.  .  .  bent  in 
form,  worn  in  features  and  an  old  man,  though 
only  in  middle  life." 

Suffering  from  insomnia  and  troubled  with  a 
half  score  of  "Job's  comforters,"  even  when  making 
in  the  interest  of  missionary  expansion  a  journey 
of  sixteen  hundred  miles  through  the  provinces, 
Appenzeller  submitted  to  medical  survey,  and 
under  domestic  compulsion,  actually  spent  a  day 
in  bed.  It  was  unique  in  his  life.  Within  five  years, 
his  avoirdupois  had  fallen  from  180  to  131  pounds. 
He  was  condemned  as  unfit  for  longer  continuous 
work  at  the  old  rate  and  ordered  home.  Happily 
253 


254       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

at  this  time,  with  private  aid  from  his  wife  A.  was 
enabled  to  go  home  by  way  of  Europe. 

When  the  Korean  emperor  heard  that  the  friend 
of  his  realm  was  about  to  leave  for  a  season,  he 
sent  his  regrets  at  not  seeing  A.  in  person,  and  at 
having  his  people  lose  the  benefit  of  his  presence. 
He  despatched  a  messenger  to  wish  a  safe  journey 
and  to  present  A.  with  tokens  of  the  imperial  appre- 
ciation. The  inventory  of  gifts  was  this :  ten  fans, 
a  so-called  "jade"  tobacco  box,  with  a  lid,  made  of 
polished  green  stone,  two  rolls  of  purple  and  pink  and 
green  and  red  quilted  silk,  three  screens,  and  several 
window  shades  of  split  bamboo  of  finest  quality. 

With  his  household,  on  this  second  furlough, 
taken  after  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament 
had  been  completed,  A.  embarked  at  Chemulpo, 
September  28  at  5  P.M.,  1900,  on  the  Japanese 
steamer,  Owari  Maru.  Out  at  sea,  October  ist, 
he  wrote  "My  spiritual  birthday,  twenty-four 
years"  of  life  in  Christ.  In  Japan,  they  stopped 
while  at  Shimonoseki  from  October  3,  1900,  at 
the  Silver  Wave  Hotel,  which  was  crowded  with 
guests.  The  landlord  was  a  wide-awake  business 
man  and  a  Christian.  He  spoke  English  and  had 
a  wife  who  had  been  educated  in  Tokyo.  During 
the  four  or  five  days'  stay,  Japan  being  the  paradise 
of  children,  the  second  daughters'  birthdays  was 
celebrated,  castera  (Castile)  or  sponge  cake  and 
chestnuts  being  the  chief  delicacies. 

At  Fukuoka,  A.  found  his  fellow  student  at 
Drew  Seminary,  Rev.  H.  B.  Johnson,  with  a  girls' 
school  and  Methodist  Church  in  promising  opera- 


Second  Visit  Home  255 

tion.  The  journey  to  Nagasaki  did  not  take  A. 
and  his  party  into  Higo,  nor  did  he  see  the  Kiso- 
gawa,  the  rapid  rushing  river,  but  was  made  by 
railway,  in  seven  hours,  through  a  region  of  valleys 
and  terraced  hills  covered  with  rice  fields  and 
thickly  dotted  with  towns  and  villages.  The  rice 
tillage  and  landscape,  in  both  southern  Japan  and 
Korea  closely  resemble  each  other. 

At  Shanghai,  China,  October  i2th,  after  $1,200,000 
worth  of  silk  had  been  put  on  board,  the  steamer 
started  to  skirt  the  shores  of  two  continents. 
Happily  they  had  Miss  Scidmore's  Guide  Book  which 
enabled  them  to  enjoy  their  brief  visits  on  shore, 
at  Hong  Kong  and  the  port  cities  of  the  Straits,  with 
economy,  ease,  and  comfort.  The  usual  stops  at 
Singapore,  Columbo,  Aden,  and  Suez  were  made, 
the  incidents  of  travel  being  much  like  those  that 
have  been  familiar  to  travellers  for  decades.  This 
experience  opened  to  the  man  who  was  interested 
in  all  humanity,  new  varieties  of  the  human  race 
ashore  and  new  phases  of  life  on  ship  board,  above 
and  below.  He  felt  more  than  ever  that  the  prob- 
lems of  the  gospel  are  not  geographical,  but  human. 

It  cost  the  steamer  company  $7,000  gold,  to 
pass  through  the  Suez  Canal,  the  tax  on  each  pas- 
senger and  each  ton  of  freight  being  nine  francs. 

A  strict  limit  upon  sight  seeing  was  to  be  held  to, 
while  in  Europe,  and  only  Naples,  Rome,  Florence, 
Venice,  and  Milan  could  be  glanced  at.  After 
these,  the  goal  was  Berne,  Switzerland,  where  A. 
had  determined  to  inquire  into  ancestral  geography 
and  genealogy.  He  found  many  names  of  Appen- 


256       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

zellers  in  the  city  directory  and  had  a  long  talk 
with  Miss  Karoline,  a  mature  lady,  daughter  of  a 
pfarrer,  or  minister,  who  had  died  at  the  age  of 
eighty-four.  She  was  well  informed  on  the  sub- 
ject. A  gentleman  of  fifty-two,  with  his  wife  and 
daughter,  also  welcomed  the  American  bearer  of 
the  same  name.  A.  was  told  that  when  the  Black 
Plague  visited  Switzerland  in  1608,  hundreds  of  the 
Appenzell  people  had  left  their  canton  and  settled  in 
Zurich  and  other  Swiss  cities.  Many  were  teachers, 
or  had  in  some  way  been  connected  with  education, 
served  the  church,  or  made  a  name  in  science. 

At  Lausanne  they  spent  four  days,  receiving  a 
warm  welcome  from  Mrs.  Scranton,  who  was  away 
from  Korea  for  the  education  of  the  children.  Stops 
were  made  at  Heidelberg,  Bingen  and  Cologne. 
They  saw  not  only  the  mighty  minster,  with  its 
spires  crowned  with  their  carved  finials  like  flowers 
of  devotion  blossoming  in  the  sky,  but  looked  upon 
and  heard  the  crowds  cheering  for  Paul  Kruger, 
late  President  of  the  Transvaal  Republic,  whose 
sun  had  already  set.  In  Belgium,  at  Liege,  once 
the  little  episcopal  city-state  during  nearly  a 
thousand  years,  but  now  a  vast  manufactory,  they 
rested  over  night.  Next  day,  admiring  the  low 
but  beautiful  Walloon  country,  whence  came  the 
first  home-making  settlers  of  New  York,  New  Jer- 
sey, and  Delaware,  they  arrived  in  Paris  at  i  P.M. 
A.  was  not  particularly  well  pleased  with  the  capital 
of  France,  whose  social  features,  as  illustrated  so 
glaringly  by  the  demi-monde,  are  so  ethically  unin- 
viting, but  in  London  he  felt  at  home.  Besides 


Second  Visit  Home  257 

seeing  tne  great  sights,  they  worshipped  in  Wesley's 
chapel,  where  the  full  ritual  of  the  Established 
Church  was  used.  It  was  with  deep  emotion  that 
A.  stood  in  Wesley's  pulpit  and  also  saw  the  tombs, 
of  Clarke,  the  commentator;  Watson,  author  of 
The  Institutes,  and  of  the  Wesleys,  both  the  poet 
and  the  church-builder.  At  this  time  of  novel 
and  rich  experiences,  A.'s  diary  is  full  of  ejaculatory 
prayers,  such  as  "  Spirit  of  our  Fathers  descend 
mightily  upon  us!"  He  went  to  St.  James'  Hall 
and  heard  Rev.  Hugh  Price  Hughes.  In  West- 
minster Abbey,  he  tried  to  listen  to  a  sermon  by 
Canon  Gore,  but  was  too  tired.  The  words  of  the 
preacher  were  lost,  but  the  thronging  memories 
of  the  mighty  monster  and  the  great  cloud  of  wit- 
nesses standing  in  marble  before  him,  preached  the 
grander  sermon.  On  the  zoth  of  December  they 
embarked  on  the  Campania  for  home  and  landed  in 
New  York,  December  22d. 

At  once  the  duties  of  the  recruiting  officer  began, 
for  A.  was  to  persuade  his  great  Church  to  send 
the  reinforcements  so  sorely  needed.  To  those 
who  had  known  him  in  the  full  tide  of  health  and 
vigour,  that  prematurely  wasted  form  was  its  own 
appeal  for  more  sympathy  and  help  in  the  vast 
field.  Yet  in  preaching  and  appeal,  A.'s  unction 
was  never  more  manifest,  as  he  illustrated  Paul's 
word,  "Though  our  outward  man  perish,  yet  the 
inward  man  is  renewed  day  by  day."  Others  were 
impressed  with  the  fact  so  insisted  on  by  Ruskin, 
and  noted  by  Dr.  Scranton,  "that  the  soul  which 
is  active  and  forceful  grows  daily,  wearing  away  the 


258       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

tenement  of  clay,  until  it  shines  through  its  cere- 
ments, manifesting  that  irresistible,  unquenchable, 
immortal  force  within  us." 

Some  of  his  old  friends  scarcely  recognised  the 
man  from  Korea,  for  he  seemed  only  a  shadow  of 
his  former  self.  Instead  of  the  robust  figure  and 
head,  of  classic  profile,  ornamented  with  thick 
brown  curls,  and  the  rosy  face,  all  suggesting  tre- 
mendous reserve  of  physical  resources,  there  were 
now  grey  hair  and  features  that  seemed  indeed, 
superb  through  the  inward  moulding  of  deep 
spiritual  experiences,  but  which  told  of  anxiety 
and  care.  The  bright  eyes  that  always  looked  under 
appearances  to  find  reality,  seemed  to  burn  with  a 
deeper  penetration  of  the  need  of  human  souls  and 
the  awful  seriousness  of  eternal  truth. 

"It  was  evident  to  me,"  said  his  classmate, 
Robert  Watts,  "that  the  Korean  climate  was  too 
severe  for  him.  I  urged  him  to  take  work  in  his 
Conference,  the  Philadelphia;  but  he  replied  'I 
have  given  myself  to  Korea  and  a  few  years  more 
or  less  do  not  so  much  matter.  I  am  more  needed 
there  than  at  home.  I  shall  in  all  probability  go 
to  Heaven  from  the  Hermit  Kingdom.  It  is  no 
less  near  there  than  in  America.'  He  was  with  me 
again,  when  I  was  presiding  elder  of  the  Wilmington 
district,  in  the  Wilmington  Conference.  He  spent 
a  Sabbath  with  me,  speaking  three  times  to  the  great 
delight  of  the  people,  many  of  whom  had  never 
seen  a  missionary  and  none  of  whom  had  seen  one 
from  the  Hermit  Kingdom.  It  was  still  more 
evident  to  me  that  A.  was  exhausting  his  vitality 


Second  Visit  Home  259 

and  I  again  urged  him  to  ask  for  release.  He  put 
his  arm  around  me,  in  his  old  familiar  way,  as  he  had 
a  habit  of  doing  in  dear  old  Drew,  and  said,  'No, 
old  man,  I  cannot  do  that.  My  heart,  my  interests, 
for  the  rest  of  my  life,  are  bound  up  in  Korea. 
What  would  my  native  workers  do  without  me?' 
There  spoke  a  man  in  Christ  Jesus." 

From  Rochester,  under  date  of  December  12, 
1892,  the  Rev.  J.  L.  Gracey,  in  his  beautiful  pen- 
manship, had  written  to  A.  asking  for  the  manu- 
script of  a  history,  to  the  extent  of  ten  thousand 
words,  of  the  Methodist  Mission  in  Korea,  there 
being  nothing  as  yet  to  supply  this  want.  Had 
this  request  been  made  ten  years  later,  A.  would 
probably  have  been  willing  to  undertake  the  task. 
In  what,  however,  was  only  the  seventh  year  of 
the  life  of  the  Methodist  Mission  in  Korea  (apart 
from  the  medical  work  of  Dr.  Scranton  and  the 
woman's  work  by  Mrs.  Scranton)  such  a  duty  would 
require  a  modest  man  to  tell  too  much  about  him- 
self. So,  although  he  felt  how  much  people  at  home 
needed  exact  information  and  true  enlightenment, 
A.  declined  the  task. 

Another  decade  had  elapsed,  however,  and  while 
at  home  during  his  second  furlough,  he  gave  what 
was  among  the  last  things  coming  from  his  pen, 
a  MS.  which,  when  melted  down  into  print,  formed 
an  exceedingly  vivid  and  informing  pamphlet  of 
38  pages,  entitled  "The  Korean  Mission  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church."  It  was  published 
posthumously  in  a  neat  booklet  of  nearly  six  by  five 
inches,  with  an  attractive  cover,  an  excellent 


260       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

portrait  of  the  author,  and  a  number  of  good  half- 
tone pictures.  It  was  sold  for  a  half-dime,  and  has 
been  widely  circulated,  both  in  the  old  and  in  the 
new  and  revised  edition,  issued  in  1911,  with  a 
supplementary  chapter  from  the  pen  of  Rev. 
George  Heber  Jones,  by  the  Open  Door  Emergency 
Commission,  No.  150  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  city. 

On  June  15,  1901,  after  many  previous  talks 
with  his  father  and  relatives  A.  read  a  paper  at 
the  reunion  of  the  Appenzeller  families.  (The 
iSth  reunion  was  held  in  1911.)  Industry,  religion, 
and  fearlessness  seemed  to  be  traits  of  the  stock. 
On  September  4th,  father  and  son  walked  from 
the  homestead  to  Souderton,  to  see  about  having  the 
sketch  printed.  The  same  evening,  about  9  o'clock 
A.  said  goodbye  to  all,  and  started  for  Korea. 
The  old  man,  now  a  lonely  widower  and  grieving 
for  his  son,  died  of  apoplexy  four  days  afterward. 
He  had  contracted  by  exposure,  when  thinly 
clothed  and  in  his  slippers,  to  the  night  air,  but 
the  news  of  President  McKinley's  assassination 
aided  in  the  shock  and  fatal  weakness.  His  son 
learned  the  news  when  in  Korea. 

In  a  supplementary  note  to  his  genealogical  paper, 
A.  pays  a  noble  tribute  to  his  father  as  a  man  of 
sterling  piety,  but  of  few  words.  His  idea  of  training 
sons  was  to  be  ever  ready  for  loving  guidance,  but, 
beyond  the  point  of  infancy,  to  let  them  find  their 
own  way  as  far  as  possible.  "This  was  the  wisest 
of  all  his  good  teaching  to  me,"  writes  A.  "It 
developed  slowly  but  surely  the  principle  of  self- 
reliance  in  me."  In  a  word,  the  far-seeing  parent 


Second  Visit  Home  261 

followed  both  the  Divine  example  and  the  biblical 
teaching,  so  often  illustrated  by  examples  in  the 
Old  Testament  and  taught  in  the  pearl  of  parables 
in  the  New.  The  precepts  inculcated  on  the 
Pennsylvania  farm  were  carried  out  in  Korea. 
No  more  self-reliant  church  exists  than  that  in 
Morning  Calm.  Nisi  Dominus  Frustra! 

Appenzeller  enjoyed  his  second  furlough  of  only 
nine  months  in  the  home  land  and  was  almost 
constantly  busy.  Then  he  heard  again  the  call 
of  Korea  and  his  flock  there,  and,  sad  as  it  must  be, 
for  the  father  and  husband  to  leave  his  wife  and  the 
four  children  in  school,  at  Philadelphia  first  and 
then  at  Lancaster,  A.  made  up  his  mind  to  return 
alone  to  the  Orient.  He  felt  that  it  was  God's 
will  that  he  should,  as  speedily  as  possible,  be  back 
on  the  ground.  The  time  had  come  for  the  reapers 
to  follow  the  ploughmen.  Happily  before  leaving, 
he  was  able,  when  in  Souderton,  near  his  native 
place,  to  have  a  very  spirited  photograph  taken  of 
himself  and  his  household,  showing  a  most  interest- 
ing group  of  six.  It  was  the  last  time  he  sat  before 
the  camera  at  home.  The  intense  earnestness  of 
the  man  is  revealed,  with  his  clearcut  features, 
in  a  face  that  is  in  itself  a  protest  against  unbelief 
in  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  in  a  pair  of 
hands — truly  revelatory  of  character  and  temper, 
such  as  Rembrandt  might  have  delighted  to  paint 
— expressing  at  once  refinement,  strength,  delicacy, 
and  tenacity.  The  picture  is  worthy  of  study. 
Often  a  portrait  is  a  biography. 

On  his  way  to  "the  Orient" — which  is  all  West 


262       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

to  an  American — he  took  in  Buffalo.  At  the  Pan- 
American  Exposition,  he  heard  President  McKinley 
speak,  on  September  sth,  before  the  great  multitude 
of  his  fellow  patriots  and  one  traitor. 

Here  the  biographer  must  pause  to  call  attention 
to  what  seems  to  him  a  noteworthy  coincidence. 
Our  subject  was  on  his  way  to  Korea,  and  we  were 
both  together  at  the  Pan-American  Exposition 
in  Buffalo,  on  that  same  day,  September  4,  1901, 
but  unknown  to  each  other.  On  the  sth  while 
standing  in  the  section  assigned  to  the  Geological 
Exhibit  of  New  Jersey,  and  recalling  five  years  of 
student  life  at  New  Brunswick,  the  work  of  "New 
Jersey's  first  citizen,"  Dr.  George  H.  Cook,  head 
of  the  Geological  Survey,  and  many  a  long  tramp 
over  the  hills  of  the  mountainous  north  of  the 
state,  a  fellow  ex-soldier  of  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic,  recognised  by  the  bronze  button  in 
his  coat  lapel,  came  near  and  conversation  began. 
I  called  attention  to  the  apparent  resemblance  to 
the  profile  of  a  human  face  shown  on  the  map  in 
the  curve  of  the  Delaware  River,  which  forms  the 
northwestern  boundary  of  New  Jersey.  Our  chat 
drifted  on,  until  both  talkers  found  themselves 
floating  on  the  high  tide  of  patriotism.  The  veteran, 
waxing  warm  in  his  enthusiasm,  cried  out  "Where, 
in  all  the  world,  could  the  chief  ruler  of  a  great 
nation  move  about  freely,  without  a  strong  military 
escort  to  protect  him  ?"  He  referred  to  the  entrance, 
the  day  before  of  President  and  Mrs.  McKinley — 
whom  the  biographer  had  known  as  young  Miss  Sax- 
ton,  when  in  Europe  in  1869,  and  whom  he  had  not 


Second  Visit  Home  263 

seen  since.  She  sat  beside  her  husband  and  the  two 
rode  in  to  see  the  wonders  of  falling  water,  electric- 
ity and  the  products  of  the  American  continent. 

Alas  for  even  American  pride !  Another  day  passed. 
The  bullet  of  the  assassin,  educated  too  well  by  our 
yellow  newspapers,  found  its  billet  in  the  body 
of  that  great  president  whom  A.  so  much  admired. 
Our  chief  magistrate  had  seemed  in  glorious  in- 
carnation, the  embodiment  of  the  wisdom  of  an 
ideal  figure,  like  that  in  Japanese  mythology,  named 
the  Thought-Includer,  who  could  take  all  the  wise 
cogitations  and  arguments,  pro  and  con,  contributed 
by  many  others  and  then,  combining  them  with  his 
own,  mark  out  a  sure  and  impeccable  policy  of  action. 

Sunday  the  8th  was  spent  at  Colorado  Springs. 
After  Leadville,  the  Rockies  crossed  and  Salt  Lake 
City  left  in  memory,  A.  found  himself  on  board  the 
steamer  Empress  of  China — one  of  a  body  of  three- 
score and  five  persons  among  the  passengers  who 
were  bound  on  an  errand  similar  to  his  own,  besides 
others.  One  lady  was  going  out  to  Korea  to  be 
the  bride  of  a  missionary.  A.  recalled  the  happy 
day  of  the  first  Christian  wedding  in  Soul,  when 
Rev.  D.  A.  Bunker  and  Miss  Ellers,  physicians  to 
the  Queen,  both  missionaries,  were  married. 

October  is  the  classic  month  for  the  westward 
hegira  of  missionaries  to  "the  Orient."  Leaving 
at  4  P.M.,  they  passed  an  English  ship  whose 
musicians  played  "Home  Sweet  Home,"  the  re- 
sponse from  the  American  ship  being  "Auld  Lang 
Syne."  A.'s  two  roommates  were  Capt.  William 
Pack  of  Philadelphia,  formerly  of  the  Thirty-first 


264       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

Michigan  Infantry,  who  was  returning  to  Manila 
as  a  civil  officer  in  educational  work.  The  other 
passenger  was  a  Mr.  Gallagher,  a  mine  operator  in 
Idaho.  Although  these  three  men  did  not  hold  an 
identical  theory  of  the  universe,  they  got  along 
finely  as  comrades,  not  only  "in  the  same  boat," 
but  in  the  same  state-room.  The  trio  is  pictured 
pleasantly,  in  Chapter  VII  of  The  Days  of  June 
(Life  Story  of  June  Nicholson,  missionary)  by 
May  Culler  White,  one  of  RevelTs  publications. 
This  etching,  of  the  sunny  missionary  and  his 
two  chums,  if  not  with  absolutely  correct  details 
of  fact,  is  spirited.  On  Sundays,  A.  conducted 
divine  service  and  on  ordinary  days  read  Oliver 
Goldsmith's  works  and  diagnosed  the  heart-disease 
of  China — gambling,  the  symptoms  of  which  were 
abundant  in  the  steerage. 

On  the  way  over  A.  sat  at  the  captain's  table  and 
greatly  enjoyed  the  passage  and  his  shipmates, 
most  of  them  bright  and  cultivated  people.  What- 
ever be  the  infirmities  and  human  frailties  of 
missionaries,  they  are,  as  a  class,  the  most  highly 
educated,  as  hard  facts,  statistics  and  impeccable 
records  of  colleges  and  special  schools  attest,  and 
they  usually  make  most  delightful  company  to 
any  who  has  a  vital  respect  for  the  Redeemer's 
last  command.  They  may  be  deficient  in  a  supply 
of  small  talk  and  rather  too  rich  in  thoughts  of 
high  purposes  and  grand  aims  to  suit  the  average 
tourist,  moneymaker,  or  traveller  on  the  world's 
common  highway,  where  the  multitude,  filled  with 
commonplace  ideals  and  ambitions,  walk;  but 


Second  Visit  Home  265 

the  scholar,  man  of  culture,  lover  of  his  fellow-men, 
or  inquirer  after  knowledge  must  be  either  narrow, 
"wooden,"  or  ultra-fastidious,  who  cannot  enjoy 
the  missionary. 

Since  July  7,  1898,  Hawaii  had  been  under  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  as  an  integral  part  of  the  United 
States.  At  Honolulu — now  the  ethnic  laboratory 
of  the  American  Republic — a  reception  was  given, 
by  their  fellow-labourers  in  the  gospel  on  shore, 
to  the  travelling  missionaries.  A.  had  the  pleasure 
of  meeting  Dr.  Gulick,  the  father  of  a  wonderful 
family  of  educators,  both  sons  and  daughters,  and 
also  Dr.  Hiram  Bingham,  who  had  been  forty- 
five  years  in  Hawaii.  He  had  an  enjoyable  talk 
with  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  to  whom  he 
gave  many  points  concerning  Korea  and  the  situa- 
tion in  the  Far  East. 

Sixteen  and  a  half  years  before,  on  the  steamer 
Arabic,  A.  had  passed  Midway  Island,  "the  north- 
ernmost islet  of  the  Hawaiian  group,"  extending 
about  1800  miles  N.  by  W.  of  Honolulu.  Both 
times,  the  steamer  moving  slowly,  approached 
safely  so  near  to  the  shore  that  a  pebble  could 
easily  have  been  tossed  from  the  deck  to  the  beach. 
The  same  wild  and  beautiful  sea  waves  seemed  to 
be  dashing  over  its  desolate  shores. 

Midway  between  the  two  continents,  oldest  and 
youngest  in  history,  this  low  atoll,  over  eighteen 
miles  in  circumference,  encloses  within  its  circle 
four  smaller  islands.  These,  from  three  to  forty- 
three  feet  high,  covered  with  coarse  grass  and  bushes, 
are  populous  chiefly  with  sea  swallows,  there  being 


266       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

no  human  habitations,  except  the  employees  of 
the  cable  company.  Here,  a  few  years  before,  a 
ship-wrecked  crew  had  lived  for  fourteen  months,  un- 
til those  who  had  not  died  of  scurvy  were  rescued. 
The  ship  glided  over  a  submarine  peak,  which  ris- 
ing from  the  ocean  floor  was  twenty-two  hundred 
feet  high,  yet  nearly  five  hundred  feet  below  the 
surface.  Between  the  group  of  mountain  pinnacles, 
forming  Hawaii  and  the  island  of  Guam,  lies  the 
great  abyss,  one  of  the  deepest  in  the  world,  nearly 
thirty  thousand  feet  beneath  the  ocean  ripples. 
Some  theorists  in  world-making  insist  that  at 
this  point  the  earth  exploded  and  threw  out  material 
that  now  forms  the  lunar  planet  leaving  behind 
a  great  deep.  The  matter  becoming  round,  accord- 
ing to  universal  law,  now  makes  monthly  journeys 
round  the  earth.  In  prose,  we  call  this  young 
satellite  the  moon;  in  poetry, 

"  That  orbed  maiden,  with  white  fire  laden." 

Korea  was  calling  and  Christ's  tireless  servant 
who  had  put  Matthew  and  Mark  and  Paul's  letters 
to  the  church  at  Corinth,  into  the  language  of  his 
flock,  now  longed,  like  a  trained  athlete,  to  wrestle 
with  the  Hebrew  and  give  the  people  the  whole 
Bible,  in  that  tongue,  wherein  "God  spake  unto  the 
fathers  by  the  prophets."  On  April  16,  1902,  he 
wrote  home  that  the  translation  committee  was 
to  sit  unintermittently  from  October  ist  to  April  3d, 
"I  am  about  to  buckle  down  to  it  for  a  pull  of 
several  years."  It  was  not  till  1912  that  the  com- 
pleted Bible  was  literally  in  the  hands  of  the  native 
Church.  Gloria  Dei! 


XXV 
"  He  Saved  Others  " 

ON    arriving    in    Korea  again,    A.    plunged 
immediately  into  the  midst  of  his  work, 
picking  up   quickly  the  many  threads  of 
interest.     The  Methodist  field  had  now  so  enlarged 
that  it  had  to  be  divided  into  southern  and  northern 
Korea,  and  A.  was  appointed  presiding  elder  of  the 
South  Korea  District. 

In  the  Methodist  system  of  organised  church 
life,  with  its  bishops,  elders  and  deacons,  the  inspec- 
tors, or  bishops  do  not  form  or  belong  to  an  order, 
but  fulfil  an  office.  They  are  true  overseers, 
serving  during  the  time  for  which  they  are  appointed. 
A  dozen  or  more  bishops  had  visited  Korea  during 
Appenzeller's  period  of  service,  for  the  American 
Methodists  are  especially  careful  in  the  oversight 
of  their  stations  in  foreign  lands.  These  honoured 
servants  of  the  Church  were  always  warmly  welcomed 
and  frequently  entertained  in  the  Appenzeller  home. 
At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  mission,  held  in  the 
spring  of  1902,  Bishop  Moore  had  ordained  two 
local  preachers  to  be  deacons  in  the  service  of  the 
churches.  One  of  these,  Earn  Chang  Sik  had  had 
an  experience  of  imprisonment  and  torture  in  Ping 
Yang  and  was  worthy  of  his  name,  Kim,  or  Iron. 
267 


268       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

His  consecrated  life,  his  holy  zeal  and  his  tireless 
labours  among  his  countrymen  have  been  an  inspira- 
tion to  native  and  foreigner  alike.  The  second, 
Kim  Ki  Pom,  of  the  same  great  clan,  had  begun  and 
developed  his  new  soul  life  in  Chemulpo. 

A  glance  at  the  enrolment  of  Christians  in  1902 
shows  how  greatly  the  work  had  developed  within 
the  fifteen  years  from  the  time  of  the  initial  baptism. 
The  Quarterly  Conference  was  now  twelve  years 
old.  A  summary  of  what  God  had  wrought  showed 
that  there  were  three  presiding  elders  over  as  many 
districts;  1,296  members;  4,559  probationers; 
14  local  preachers;  47  Sunday  schools  and  47 
churches.  The  contributions  of  the  native  Chris- 
tians amounted  to  $1600  in  gold,  a  sum  which  in 
America,  all  things  considered,  would  certainly 
mean  $10,000. 

About  this  time  a  sad  experience  befell  Appen- 
zeller,  which  undoubtedly,  in  the  providence  of 
God,  hastened  the  termination  of  his  career  on  earth. 
This  was  the  era  of  railway  building  in  Korea. 
A  concession  had  been  given  to  a  French  syndicate 
to  build  an  iron  road  from  the  capital  to  the  Chinese 
frontier,  and  the  work  was  begun  with  considerable 
ceremony  on  the  8th  of  February,  1902.  At  this  time 
a  railway  from  Soul  to  Fusan  was  being  built  by 
the  Japanese  who  were  preparing  for  the  impending 
war  with  Russia.  Even  common  labourers  were  on 
the  alert,  or  nervous  about  Russian  spies,  and  ever 
since  the  visit  of  the  Czar  to  Japan,  any  man  of 
prominence  in  a  pith  helmet  was  rated  as  a  Russian 
general.  Thousands  of  these  labourers,  many  of 


"  He  Saved  Others  "  269 

the  very  worst  sort,  and  others,  ex-swordsmen  or 
soldiers,  now  poor  and  glad  to  earn  good  wages,  had 
been  brought  over  from  Japan  to  assist  in  the  work, 
though  most  of  the  heavy  labour  was  done  by 
Koreans.  As  yet  only  the  loose  earth  embankments 
and  the  preliminary  rough  tasks  of  digging  and 
grading  could  be  seen. 

Bishop  David  Hastings  Moore,  who  had  been  in 
Korea  the  year  before,  returned  in  May,  1902.  To 
one  of  the  village  churches  at  Muchinae,  near  Soul 
within  Appenzeller's  district,  the  bishop  and  the 
presiding  elder,  with  some  friends  started  on  Sunday, 
June  i,  to  the  service.  In  the  party  were  also  Rev. 
W.  C.  Swearer,  Miss  Melvin,  and  Miss  Moore. 
The  ladies  and  the  bishop  were  in  a  jinrikisha, 
Swearer  and  Appenzeller  were  on  bicycles. 

Let  not  the  reader  think  of  an  edifice  of  brick 
or  stone,  but  rather  one  of  wood,  earth,  mortar 
and  thatch,  hi  Korean  style.  Against  the  back- 
ground of  the  everlasting  mountains  rose  this  modest 
house  of  worship,  able  to  hold  a  few  score  people 
and  set  within  an  area  marked  off  with  the  usual 
wall  or  fence  of  broom  corn  and  mud.  A  few  feet 
forward,  from  the  front  gate,  was  reared  an  arch 
or  portal  of  greenery,  while  flying  on  a  pole  near 
by  was  the  church  flag — the  white  banner  of  the 
red  cross  and  underneath  it  the  Korean  national 
ensign.  Hard  by  the  chapel  was  the  humble  par- 
sonage, in  which  the  pastor  and  his  family  were  to 
live.  On  this  day,  hundreds  of  white-robed  people 
had  gathered  with  their  little  ones  to  welcome  the 
coming  of  their  American  friends,  who  were  to 


270       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

preside  over  the  joyful  ceremonies.  Nevertheless 
the  guests  did  not  arrive,  nor  were  two  of  them  in 
very  presentable  condition  when  they  turned  back 
to  the  capital,  being  more  appropriately  patients 
for  a  hospital  than  speakers  at  a  festal,  Sabbath 
gathering. 

What  had  happened  is  told  in  full  in  the  Korean 
Repository  for  June,  1902,  which  also  contains  a 
striking  memoir  of  Appenzeller,  by  Rev.  W.  C. 
Swearer  and  the  story  of  a  midnight  disaster  at  sea. 
Laying  aside  all  feeling  in  the  matter,  the  outstand- 
ing facts  are  as  follows.  Keeping  in  mind  the  Japan- 
ese fear  of  Russian  spies  and  their  traditional  ideas 
as  to  pith  helmits,  one  may  find  a  reason  for  and 
and  interpretation  of  what  happened. 

At  one  point,  on  the  way  to  the  village  of  Much- 
inae,  the  road  crossed  and  re-crossed  the  embank- 
ment of  the  Soul-Fusan  railway.  When  the  party 
reached  the  first  point  of  intersection,  they  all 
kept  on  the  regular  road,  except  A.  and  the  Korean, 
Mr.  Mun.  These  as  they  were  somewhat  in  the 
rear,  walked  along  the  hundred  yards  or  so  of 
the  railway  embankment.  There  was  no  sign  of 
warning,  or  notice  not  to  walk  thereon.  The  main 
party  had  crossed  the  embankment  and  A.  and  his 
Korean  friend  had  nearly  reached  the  end  of  their 
short  cut,  when  a  Japanese  labourer,  from  a  camp 
near  by,  came  running  along.  He  made  at  once 
for  the  jinrikisha,  in  which  the  bishop  rode,  and 
seizing  it,  prevented  the  whole  party  from  pro- 
ceeding. Mr.  Swearer,  who  was  in  advance, 
returned  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  Mr.  Appen- 


"  He  Saved  Others  "  271 

zeller  asked  the  labourer  to  desist,  saying  that  they 
were  not  aware  that  they  were  trespassing,  and  that 
hereafter  they  would  take  good  care  that  all  kept 
to  the  main  road.  This  he  repeated  several  times, 
attempting  to  smooth  matters  over  by  an  apology, 
but  the  slow-brained,  or  ultra-suspicious  fellow 
refused  to  let  go,  and  neither  gave  any  reason,  nor 
suggested  any  alternative. 

Time  was  pressing  and  punctuality  lay  on  their 
conscience.  Instead  of  waiting  until  the  man's 
dull  wits  could  act,  the  Bishop,  who  may  have 
thought  the  offender  one  of  his  own  servants,  gave 
the  fellow's  knuckles  a  rap  with  his  walking  stick, 
"as  a  little  reminder  that  a  party  of  perfectly 
inoffensive  citizens  cannot  be  held  up  by  any  half- 
naked  coolie  on  a  public  highway  for  in  indefinite 
period."  So  wrote  the  editor  of  the  Korean  Review. 

This  might  have  passed  in  China,  where  the  Chi- 
nese have  long  been  accustomed  to  such  discipline 
from  foreigners.  The  Japanese,  however,  are  of 
another  fibre.  This  blow,  however  slight,  was 
taken  as  a  declaration  of  war,  and  the  labourer, 
screaming  to  his  fellows  in  camp,  just  beyond  a 
little  hill,  leaped  to  the  side  of  the  road,  seized  a 
stone  as  large  as  his  two  fists  and  hurled  it  with  all 
his  might.  Happily  the  stone  hit  only  the  pith 
helmet  of  the  bishop  and  did  no  harm.  Then 
Appenzeller,  Swearer  and  the  Korean  stepped  in 
between  the  Japanese  and  the  bishop  to  defend 
the  latter.  Two  or  three  other  labourers  rushed  up 
armed  with  clubs  and  Appenzeller,  struck  hard, 
was  the  first  to  fall.  He  rose  again  and  he  and  Mr. 


272       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

Swearer  tried  to  hold  the  Japanese  in  check,  while 
at  the  same  time  moving  down  the  road  as  rapidly 
as  possible.  One  of  the  Japanese  ran  to  a  pile  of 
sticks  near  by  and  picked  up  one  as  an  ugly  weapon. 
As  Mr.  Swearer  looked  round,  to  glance  at  the  strug- 
gling party  he  had  left,  he  was  struck  a  murderous 
blow  on  the  forehead,  which  felled  him  to  the 
ground,  tore  off  the  skin,  which  fell  over  his  eyes 
and  cut  a  deep  wound.  He  struggled  to  his  feet 
again,  with  the  blood  streaming  down  his  face,  and 
saw  Appenzeller  also  covered  with  blood,  holding 
off  the  Japanese  as  best  he  could. 

By  this  time,  however,  the  conscience  of  the  Japan- 
ese labourers  awoke.  Evidently  they  realised  that 
these  were  not  Russians  but  Americans.  As  they 
came  to  themselves,  they  saw  the  seriousness  of 
the  situation  in  which  they  had  placed  themselves 
and  at  once  drew  back.  The  American  party 
washed  the  blood  away  at  the  nearest  water  and  then 
wended  its  way  back  to  Soul,  where  the  wounds  of 
the  injured  were  dressed.  An  excellent  photograph 
shows  two  men  with  damaged  faces,  but  still 
resolute  to  remain  in  Korea  to  do  the  people  good. 
In  recounting  the  exact  facts,  the  large  hearted 
bishop  declared  that  he  laid  up  nothing  against 
Japan  for  this  folly  of  a  few  labourers. 

The  matter  was  promptly  reported  to  the  Amer- 
ican Legation.  Dr.  Allen  acted  immediately,  and 
the  Japanese  quickly  made  arrest  of  the  culprits 
and  instituted  a  trial.  Of  the  three  labourers,  two 
were  sentenced  to  two  months  and  one  to  one 
month  imprisonment,  with  hard  labour. 


"  He  Saved  Others  "  273 

Not  having  heard  all  sides  of  the  question  and 
knowing  nothing  as  an  eye-witness,  the  writer  with- 
holds judgment  or  comment.  Yet  evidently,  this 
is  one  of  many  instances  in  which  Japanese  justice 
has  been  almost  as  much  of  a  farce  as  when  in  Amer- 
ican consular  courts  in  Japan,  or  even  in  America, 
notably  in  Boston,  at  trials  attended  by  the  writer, 
Japanese  have  sought  to  get  justice  of  Americans. 

The  necessity  of  Appenzeller's  remaining  in  Soul 
as  an  eye-witness,  to  give  testimony  at  the  trial, 
delayed  his  attendance  at  the  meeting  of  the  Bible 
Translation  Committee,  which  was  set  for  the  first 
week  in  June  at  Mokpo,  in  South  Korea,  where 
was  a  flourishing  mission  of  the  American  Presby- 
terian Church,  South.  Instead  of  going  in  the  ship 
he  had  intended  to  sail  with  Drs.  Underwood  and 
Gale,  he  engaged  a  berth,  for  June  n,  1902,  on  the 
Osaka  Navigation  Company's  steamer  Kumagawa, 
of  558  tons.  The  first-class  passengers  on  the  boat 
were  Mr.  J.  F.  Bowlby,  an  American  miner  from 
Unsan,  Korea,  in  poor  health,  returning  to  his  home 
in  Indiana,  two  or  three  Japanese  gentlemen  and 
Appenzeller,  who  took  with  him  also  Mr.  Cho 
his  native  secretary  or  assistant  and  a  little  Korean 
girl  from  Miss  Doty's  Presbyterian  school  in  Soul, 
who  was  to  return  to  her  home  in  Mokpo,  in  A.'s 
care. 

Of  the  two  or  three  printed  accounts  of  this 
voyage  and  disaster,  one,  touched  with  imagina- 
tion, is  that  given  in  "The  Vanguard." 

"That  night  McKecheren  dropped  a  letter  to 
Foster.  .  .  .  'Come  and  see  what  God  is  doing 


274       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

here  and  we'll  go  back  together  and  be  inspired 
afresh  for  our  part  of  the  task  (of  Bible  transla- 
tion). .  .  .'  His  voice  and  Foster's  might  never 
be  heard,  but  here  were  the  results  of  their  labours 
[on  the  New  Testament  in  Korean,  and  its  universal 
study  by  the  native  Christians]  going  on. 

"When  McKecheren's  letter  reached  Foster, 
he  at  once  set  his  house  in  order  for  a  trip  .  .  . 
knowing  that  there  must  be  something  worth  see- 
ing to  call  forth  so  enthusiastic  an  expression  from 
a  canny  Scotchman. 

"Steamers  of  from  four  to  seven  hundred  tons, 
manned  partly  by  Japanese  and  partly  by  Koreans 
made  two  or  three  trips  a  week  starting  from 
Chemulpo.  He  would  take  one  of  these  and  join 
the  friends  who  had  gone  before  him  and  add  his 
hallelujah.  How  glorious  the  day!  .  .  . 

"Foster  rejoiced  at  the  evidence  of  the  white 
man's  energy  [shown  at  Chemulpo]  for  he  believed 
fully  that  in  the  wake  of  the  Gospel  would  come  all 
the  triumphs  of  civilisation.  The  trader,  the  mer- 
chant, the  engineer,  the  miner,  were  messengers 
of  good,  provided  they  recognised  God  and  the 
rights  of  their  fellow-men.  He  was  glad,  glad 
of  the  age  he  lived  in,  glad  to  behold  the  peaceful 
scene,  blessed  with  evidences  of  contentment  and 
prosperity. 

"He  pulled  out  to  his  steamer  and  saw  the 
captain  sitting  cross-legged  reading  a  book.  They 
would  not  sail  for  two  hours  yet,  perhaps  not  for 
longer,  he  would  see.  ...  It  was  two  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  when  the  anchor  was  weighed  and  the 


"  He  Saved  Others  "  275 

ship  pulled  out  of  harbour.  In  a  few  hours  he  would 
be  across  this  sleepy  sea  and  into  scenes  of  life  and 
animation,  that  would  gladden  his  heart  and  reward 
him  for  the  arduous  labours  of  many  a  translation 
day." 

We  may  explain  that  the  Osaka  Steamship 
Company  had  in  its  fleet  several  steamers  named 
after  the  gawa,  or  rivers  of  Japan,  among  them 
the  Kiso,  a  stream  in  the  main  island  flowing 
down  from  the  "Alps"  in  central  Japan.  I  have 
often  seen  it  in  its  proud  flood.  The  other,  the 
Kuma,  in  Kiushiu,  so  famous  for  its  rapids,  is  one 
of  the  swiftest  streams  in  the  Empire.  The  name 
of  the  latter,  when  linked  to  a  sinking  steamer,  was 
to  live  up  to  its  reputation.  After  each  name, 
Kisogawa  and  Kumagawa,  was  the  lucky  word 
Maru,  signifying  precious,  stout,  or  stalwart,  or 
valuable,  much  as  we  say  stanch,  or  "the  good  ship," 
so  and  so. 

Dr.  H.  N.  Allen  writes  of  the  day  before  the 
voyage:  "I  asked  Appenzeller  to  repeat  the  Lord's 
Prayer  in  Korean,  together  with  some  other  matters 
in  the  native  tongue  for  my  phonograph.  I  thus 
made  an  excellent  record  of  his  splendid  voice 
in  the  very  tongue  into  which  he  had  assisted 
to  translate  these  masterpieces.  I  brought  this 
record  home  and  sent  it  to  his  widow.  .  .  .  Mr. 
Appenzeller  spent  the  night  with  us  at  our  summer 
home  at  Chemulpo,  prior  to  taking  the  steamer  to 
the  South.  .  .  .  On  his  first  coming  to  Soul  [in 
1885]  he  and  his  wife  were  guests  at  our  home.  .  .  . 
It  is  therefore  a  strange  coincidence  that  our  house 


276       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

at  Chemulpo  should  have  been  the  last  stopping 
place  for  him  on  land  in  Korea." 

"Night  closed  dark,"  continues  "The  Vanguard," 
"but  the  sea  was  steady  and  the  churning  of  the 
screw  ceased  not.  He  would  go  below  and  turn  in. 
Suddenly  there  was  a  mighty  jar,  the  sound  of 
cracking  steel  and  splintering  wood  and  then  an 
awful  silence.  Who  can  tell  the  flashes  of  those 
few  moments  that  shoot  in  their  long  streamers 
across  the  mind?  There  were  mad  shoutings  and 
frantic  footfalls  on  deck.  They  had  been  rammed 
by  another  ship.  [The  Kisogawa,  675  tons,  of  the 
same  line.]  Someone  had  blundered  and  their 
boat  was  going  down  into  the  deep.  There  was 
no  help,  no  hand  stretched  out,  no  rope  to  hold  of; 
ropes  and  spars  and  engines  and  anchor  chains, 
everything  was  going.  Underneath  this  most  hope- 
ful of  men,  whose  face  had  known  no  shadow  and 
whose  life  was  thanksgiving  and  joy,  the  earth  and 
its  supports  were  giving  way.  Over  went  the 
ill-fated  steamer,  a  rushing,  gurgling  sound,  some 
ripples  under .  the  shadow  and  it  was  quiet.  .  .  . 
A  day  or  two  later  when  Willis  and  McKecheren 
were  in  the  midst  of  examinations  there  came  a 
messenger  in  hot  haste  with  a  telegram.  'Wreck  on 
the  Yellow  Sea.  Foster  among  the  missing'.  .  .  . 
The  loss  of  Foster  changed  the  conditions  of  work 
in  the  capital  and  McKecheren  had  to  leave  at  once. 
The  needs  were  increased  and  their  best  worker 
had  fallen." 

More  exact  and  detailed  are  the  descriptions  of 
Mr.  Bowlby,  and  Dr.  H.  N.  Allen.  The  survivor, 


"  He  Saved  Others  "  277 

as  stated  in  The  Korea  Review,  says  that  about 
ten  o'clock  that  night  he  and  Mr.  Appenzeller, 
having  made  friends  with  each  other,  partook  of  a 
light  supper  of  tea  and  biscuit  and  then  retired 
to  their  state-room.  Mr.  Bowlby  undressed  and 
got  into  his  berth  but  did  not  go  to  sleep.  His 
state-room  was  immediately  opposite  that  of  Mr. 
Appenzeller  and  he  could  see  the  latter  sitting  in 
his  state-room  reading.  No  whistle  was  blowing 
and  the  ship  was  apparently  on  her  course.  There 
was,  however,  a  mist  gathering,  which  soon  deep- 
ened in  a  fog.  The  tide  was  running  rapidly  to 
mount  thirty  feet  high,  but  the  water  was  calm. 
The  sea  here  is  about  1 50  feet  deep.  Not  far  away 
was  the  small  island  of  Osayto,  and  the  entrance 
to  Kunsen  was  near  by.  In  a  word,  it  was  not  dis- 
tant from  the  scene  of  the  wrecks  of  the  French 
frigates  La  Gloire  and  La  Victorieuse  in  1847. 

A  few  minutes  elapsed  when,  without  the  least 
warning,  there  came  a  terrific  crash,  which  brought 
Mr.  Bowlby  to  his  feet  instantly.  The  Kumagawa 
had  been  struck  by  the  Kisogawa,  twenty  feet  from 
her  bow,  and  began  at  once  to  sink.  Mr.  Appen- 
zeller cried  out  "What's  the  matter?"  In  about 
ninety  seconds  after  the  collision  Mr.  Bowlby  had 
partly  dressed  and  was  making  for  the  companion- 
way,  with  Mr.  Appenzeller  immediately  in  front 
of  him.  He  saw  two  Koreans  coming  out  of  their 
cabins  (the  Secretary  and  the  little  girl?)  but  thinks 
they  never  reached  the  deck. 

The  whole  forward  half  of  the  deck  was  already 
submerged  and  the  stern  was  lifted  high  out  of 


278       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

the  water.  Mr.  Appenzeller,  who  seemed  to  be 
labouring  under  great  excitement,  apparently  made 
no  attempt  to  get  away  from  the  ship,  but  Mr. 
Bowlby  leaped  aft  and  climbed  upon  the  rail. 
As  the  boat  settled,  he  looked  round  and  saw  Mr. 
Appenzeller  up  to  his  waist  in  water  and  groping 
vainly  for  something  to  take  hold  of.  The  ship 
went  down  at  an  angle  of  about  forty-five  degrees. 

Mr.  Bowlby's  watch,  which  he  had  on  at  the 
time  of  the  collision  stopped  at  half-past  ten,  so 
that  the  wreck  must  have  occurred  only  a  few 
minutes  before  this  time. 

He  was  drawn  down,  he  believes,  about  fifteen 
feet  until  he  felt  a  shock,  which  came  from  the 
bursting  of  the  boilers.  Rising  to  the  surface, 
Mr.  Bowlby,  though  an  expert  swimmer,  was 
sucked  down  in  the  eddies  repeatedly  and  once 
struck  in  the  back  by  a  piece  of  timber;  but,  on 
coming  to  the  surface  again,  he  could  see  the  lights 
of  the  Kisogawa  Maru,  which  had  rammed  the 
Kumagawa  Maru,  about  two  hundred  yards  away. 
He  heard  cries  of  help  from  the  direction  of  the 
wreck.  By  means  of  an  upturned  lifeboat  which 
floated  near,  with  a  large  part  of  its  bottom  ripped 
off,  he  was  able  to  remain  above  water  about  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour,  until  taken  up  by  the  rescue 
boats  from  the  Kisogawa.  The  water  was  so 
deep  that  the  steamer  was  unable  to  anchor, 
but  she  kept  steaming  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
wreck,  trying  to  find  other  survivors,  until 
i  P.M.  next  day,  recovering  on  a  tangled 
wreckage,  but  one  body,  that  of  a  Korean,  and 


"  He  Saved  Others  "  279 

then  headed  for  Chemulpo,  eighty-six  miles  north- 
ward. The  total  loss  of  life,  with  the  sinking  of 
the  Kumagawa  Maru,  was,  besides  Appenzeller, 
4  Japanese  and  14  Korean  passengers,  and  8  of  the 
crew.  To  remain  fifteen  hours  in  trying,  per- 
chance, to  save  even  one  life,  rears  a  noble  mile- 
stone in  Japan's  value  set  on  human  life,  as  com- 
pared with  what  I  saw  in  the  interior  in  1871,  when 
life  was  as  cheap  as  dirt. 

Mr.  Bowlby  had  lost  all  but  his  life  in  the  founder- 
ing of  the  Kumagawa.  When  the  news  was  tele- 
graphed to  the  American  mines  in  Unsan,  his 
comrades,  with  characteristic  generosity,  raised 
and  sent  him  by  telegraph  $300  gold  and  on  the 
1 6th  he  sailed  for  America. 

Why  Appenzeller,  even  though  dressed,  delayed 
to  reach  the  deck,  and  thus  lost  the  precious 
minute  or  two,  hi  which  he  might  have  saved  his 
own  life,  is  fully  explained  by  his  self-sacrificing 
spirit.  It  was  in  attempting  to  get  to  his  Korean 
secretary  and  to  the  little  Korean  girl  under  his 
care,  hoping  to  call  and  arouse  them,  and  in  not 
taking  sufficient  precautions  for  his  own  safety, 
that  he  lost  his  life. 

"Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this  that  a  man 
lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends." 

The  news  was  cabled  to  New  York,  but  the 
officers  of  the  Mission  Board  waited  in  hope,  dur- 
ing several  days,  before  announcing  the  reality  to 
Appenzeller's  family,  trusting  that  some  word  of 
his  reaching  the  shore  might  be  received,  but  none 
came. 


280       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

Not  in  a  single  grave,  in  that  sleeping  place  in 
Korea's  soil,  by  the  banks  of  her  noblest  river, 
which  he  had  so  lovingly  toiled  to  beautify,  but  in 

"The  many-peopled  grave  down  in  the  free 
Untrodden  cemeteries  of  the  sea," 

Henry  Gerhart  Appenzeller  sleeps.  He  entered 
Heaven  "with  a  soul  in  his  arms." 

In  boyhood's  days,  as  we  recall,  one  of  DeWitt 
Talmage's  favourite  hymns,  at  the  Communion 
Service,  where  the  dear  ones  gone  were  remembered, 
was  this: 

"From  the  roaring  surge  they  come 
From  the  darksome  depths  of  woe 
Peril,  weariness  and  shame 
Marked  their  chosen  lot  below. 

"  Sinking  in  the  ocean  brine, 
Jesus  caught  them  from  the  flood. 
Lo!  how  bright  their  garments  shine 
Blanched  in  their  Redeemer's  blood." 


XXVI 
The  Whitening  Harvest 

1  EXPECT,  if  God  spares  my  life,  to  visit 
every  province  of  Korea,  to  preach  the  gospel 
to  the  tiger-hunters  of  the  North  and  the  rice 
farmers  of  the  South,"  wrote  Appenzeller  the 
pioneer,  in  the  eighties.  With  him  vision  and  ser- 
vice were  -ever  hand  in  hand.  In  part  his  dream 
was  actualised,  during  his  life  on  earth;  but  in 
the  fulness  of  the  glory  of  to-day,  Appenzeller  never 
participated.  It  pleased  God  to  bury  the  workman 
but  to  let  the  work  go  on.  Others  reaped  where 
the  pioneer  went  forth  with  precious  seed. 

Into  this  alluring  field  of  promise,  in  one  of  the 
oldest  of  nations,  labourers  from  the  youngest  of 
commonwealths  soon  entered.  It  was  not  alone 
Mother  England  that  sent  her  individual  sons  and 
daughters.  The  heritage  and  momentum  of  faith 
and  prayer  in  the  old  country  moved  her  children 
in  the  daughter  nations.  Out  of  Canada  and  Aus- 
tralia, once  colonies  but  now  leaders  among  self- 
governing  nations,  bands  of  consecrated  Christian 
men  and  women  crossed  the  sea  to  Korea.  They 
came  to  heal  the  sick,  cleanse  the  lepers,  preach 
the  gospel  and  to  illustrate  in  joyful  obedience, 
the  Saviour's  own  story  of  the  divine  gift  for  human 
281 


282       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

need,  and  to  heed  his  permanent  reminder  and 
command — "freely  ye  have  received,  freely  give." 
Thus  the  younger  peoples  of  the  earth,  vicing 
with  and  excelling  even  the  Koreans  in  their  fun- 
damental sanctions  of  filial  piety — youth  serving 
age — ministered  in  Christ's  name.  The  exultant 
joy,  in  which  young  Canada  and  youthful  Australia, 
moved  with  the  sweet  compulsion  of  love  to  their 
Divine  Master,  hastened  to  serve  in  "Christ's 
new-born  nation,"  fulfilled,  in  spirit  at  least,  some 
of  the  grandest  prophecies  penned  on  the  deathless 
pages  of  Isaiah. 

Yet  not  to  these  channels,  wrought  in  English- 
speaking  commonwealth  so  far  apart,  was  the  river 
of  abounding  grace  and  brotherly  sympathy  con- 
fined. One  would  suppose  that  the  people  of  the 
southern  states  of  the  American  Union  had  had 
themselves,  during  the  past  half  century,  enough 
reverses,  sorrows,  burdens  and  discouragements 
to  bear,  without  caring  for  poor  Korea.  Yet  what 
were  the  cost  of  the  spikenard,  the  breaking  of  the 
flask,  the  sacrifice  of  perfume  and  of  the  precious 
ointment  poured  forth,  compared  with  the  joy  of 
grateful  obedience  and  loving  service?  All  the  past 
history  of  the  South,  to  one  intimately  acquainted 
with  her  spirit,  reveals  a  spicy  odour  of  romance, 
chivalry  and  generous  impulse,  which  a  Northerner, 
however  he  may  love  his  own  granite  hills,  and 
glacier-chiselled  lakes  and  valleys,  must  admire. 
After  a  hundred  noble  manifestations  of  progress, 
in  social,  political,  literary,  and  industrial  lines  of 
achievement  by  the  Old  and  the  New  South,  how 


The  Whitening  Harvest          283 

superb  was  the  elan  with  which  our  fellow-Americans 
from  the  region  of  palms  and  cotton  sprang  to  the 
new  opportunity!  The  Son  of  Man  went  forth  to 
war,  but  the  Southerner  was  among  the  first  to 
follow  in  his  train — even  beyond  seas  to  Korea. 

Happily  for  the  missionary  conquest  of  Morning 
Calm,  Christianity  has  not  been  presented  to  the 
Koreans  in  too  many  forms,  either  of  doctrine, 
or  polity,  or  with  excess  of  ethnic  oddities.  Surely 
the  personal  peculiarities  of  the  foreigners  them- 
selves ought  to  suffice  for  the  puzzling  of  the  natives. 
We  count  it  a  happy  omen  that  the  whole  field 
is  occupied,  in  the  main,  by  Christians  whose  sub- 
ordinate names  of  Methodist,  Presbyterian,  and 
Anglican  include  the  enterprises  from  the  several 
countries.  By  mapping  out  the  whole  area  of  the 
seventeen  provinces  of  Cho-sen,  work  has  been 
accomplished  with  no  overlapping  and  with  com- 
mendable economy. 

Surely  this  decade  of  years,  since  the  pioneer  sank 
from  sight,  has  been  Korea's  most  glorious  era. 
The  astonishing  change  has  been  wrought 

"  By  the  dear  might  of  Him  who  walked  the  wave, 

and,  to  God  be  all  the  glory.  The  sorcerers  and 
demon-worshippers  have  been  for  the  most  part  made 
to  disappear,  or  to  dwell  with  the  moles  and  bats. 
The  idols  are  not  yet  utterly  abolished,  and  the  devil- 
shrine  still  stands;  but,  where  there  were  hosts, 
these  are  now  but  relics  and  survivals.  In  their 
place  has  risen  the  church,  the  school,  the  dispen- 
sary, the  hospital,  the  preaching  station.  New 


284       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

Christian  villages  by  the  score  and  worshipping 
congregations  by  the  hundred  tell  of  whole 
regions  redeemed.  Verily  there  is  a  new  landscape 
in  Korea,  as  well  as  a  new  spirit  in  the  people. 

As  for  Soul,  the  capital,  it  is  hard  to  keep  up  with 
the  changes  wrought  even  within  the  year  1911. 
With  modern  hats,  shoes,  clothes  and  coiffure, 
young  Korea  is  assimilating  his  life,  outwardly, 
at  least,  with  the  rest  of  humanity  in  that  part  of 
the'Vorld  in  which  minutes  and  seconds  have  value. 
Modern  edifices  often  imposing  and  beautiful  dot 
the  city.  In  place  of  the  old  fire-signals  on  the 
mountain  tops,  are  telegraphs  and  telephones. 
Rows  of  trees  beautify  streets,  avenues  and  hill- 
sides. From  within,  the  Korean  has  a  new  outlook 
upon  the  universe  and  human  history,  and  both 
men  and  women  share  in  the  new  hope  which  changes 
many  hearts  and  faces.  City,  houses,  and  people, 
within  and  without,  tell  of  Korea's  new  era,  when 
the  ruling  ideas  governing  human  life  are  Christian. 

The  general  course  of  the  movement  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  has  been  hinted  at  in  the  verses  at  the  end 
of  this  chapter,  but  the  missionary  situation  in  1912, 
as  we  lay  down  our  pen,  is  thus  set  forth  by  Mr. 
Hamilton  Holt,  editor  of  The  Independent,  New 
York,  who  has  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  Korea. 

"The  missionaries  are  still  doing  the  most  for 
education.  .  .  .  Christianity  is  flourishing.  .  .  . 
There  are  now  about  205  foreign  missionaries  in 
Korea,  mostly  American  Presbyterians  and  Meth- 
o4ists.  There  are  807  Christian  churches  and  over 
200,000  professing  Christians.  The  churches  have 


The  Whitening  Harvest  285 

besides  the  foreign  missionaries  about  400  native 
pastors.  They  have  also  attached  to  them  350 
schools  giving  instruction  to  15,000  Korean  boys 
and  girls ;  also  1 5  hospitals. 

"The  Japanese  Government  has  been  so  impressed 
by  the  work  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  at  Soul  [the  splendid 
edifice  erected  by  Mr.  John  Wanamaker]  that  it 
has  given  it  $5,000  a  year,  the  only  sum  thus  far 
donated  for  any  benevolent  purpose." 

Surely  in  view  of  the  past,  all  who  love  and  pray 
for  Korea  may  thank  God  and  take  courage. 
"The  day  is  short 
The  work  is  great 
The  Master  is  pressing." 

NISI  DOMJNUS  FRUSTRA. 


XXVII 
The  Wind  of  the  Spirit 

No  wind  or  gale  vexed  Korean  seas, 
While  signal  lamps  were  burning; 
'Twas  misty  when  night's  fog  came  down, 
With  crashing  ships  o'erturning. 

But  lo !  at  morn  the  new  day  dawned 
The  isles  and  hills  revealing ; 
A  gentle  breeze  rose  o'er  the  land, 
From  blooms  the  perfume  stealing. 

So,  when  the  Spirit,  breath  of  God, 
Blew  o'er  Great  Morning  Splendour, 
New  savours  sweet — life  unto  life — 
Revealed  the  gifts  God  sent  her. 

Here  lay  a  valley  of  dry  bones, 

As  of  the  slain  long  waited ; 

And  yet,  perchance,  might  come  the  day 

Of  souls  anew  created. 

For  not  impossible  that  God — 

The  dead  his  voice  once  hearing — 

Might  clothe  these  bones  with  flesh  and  blood, 

Once  more  to  life  uprearing. 

The  dream  so  strange  to  sight  came  real. 
Behold  an  army  living 
Ask  of  the  way  the  Christ  had  trod, 
Their  best  to  him  now  giving ! 

Thus  startled,  to  behold  the  host 
The  toilers  had  awaited, 
Fresh  signs  of  power  they  sought  anew 
That  strength  with  grace  be  mated. 
286 


The  Wind  of  the  Spirit  287 

And  wise  were  they  who  not  on  storm 
Of  war,  or  statecraft's  rending 
That  tore  down  thrones,  or  set  up  force 
On  sword  or  spear  depending! 

No !  gentle  was  the  word  of  grace, 
Christ's  heralds  kept  proclaining, 
Of  peace  and  pardon  in  the  soul, 
All  earthly  glories  shaming. 

Not  for  a  kingdom  based  on  might, 
To  pass  with  time's  swift  fleeting, 
But  everlasting  as  the  Rock 
Of  Ages,  undepleting. 

No  mighty  sound  or  cannon's  smoke, 
Or  tempest's  breath,  or  thunder! 
'Twas  but  the  still  small  voice,  the  Christ's 
Made  Morning  Calm  to  wonder. 

Yes,  Spirit-born,  these  gales  of  God, 
A  nation  great  now  sweeping, 
Taught  sons  of  hope  love's  way  to  ask, 
And  lift  the  Christian's  greeting — 

"'Abba  Father' !  we  turn  no  more 
To  idols  that  enslave  us, 
But  cleansed  in  soul,  raise  holy  prayer 
To  Him  alone  who  saves  us." 

And  to  this  plea,  the  Lord  of  Life, 
E'en  e'er  they  cry,  does  hearken, — 
"The  pathway  to  your  Father's  love 
With  guilty  fears  ne'er  darken. 

"Behold  my  servant,  mine  elect, 
Who  not  with  strife  or  crying, 
Bids  you  his  yoke  now  gladly  take 
His  burdens  not  denying." 


288       A  Modern  Pioneer  in  Korea 

Oh  Korea!  bruised  reed  so  long, 
Deep  in  oppression's  mire; 
Uprear  thy  head  and  wave  thy  fronds 
In  sunlit  beauty  higher! 

Thy  smoking  flax,  though  smould'ring  long, 
Now  bursts  in  flame,  illuming 
The  path  where  pilgrims  catch  the  gleam 
From  Heaven's  fair  towers  looming. 

Let  law  or  flag  be  what  it  may. 
Thy  sons  of  expectation, 
Like  Israel  old,  when  Christ-redeemed 
Pray  now  for  every  nation. 

Yes  hermit  once,  now  Spirit-filled 
The  Korean,  erst  secluded, 
Yearns  now  that  nations  all  be  blessed, 
In  God's  great  love  included. 

Sleep,  servant  of  the  living  God, 
Thy  labours  o'er;  now  resting, 
Thy  works  do  follow,  richly  seen — 
Korea  her  Christ  confessing. 

The  Word  of  God,  on  which  thou  toil'dst, 
Shines  now  the  land  o'er  streaming; 
The  nation's  face,  the  homes  once  dark, 
Suffused  with  joy  are  beaming. 

What  thou  in  faith's  clear  vision  saw, 
Seems  now  in  sure  fulfilling, 
All  Cho-sen  glad  her  Master  hails, 
Low  at  his  feet  sits  willing. 

To  bear,  to  suffer,  to  obey, 
In  love's  sweet  obligation, 
Forgiven  much,  she  feels  the  debt; 
Behold  Christ's  new-born  nation ! 


Index 


ABSORPTION  of  Korea,  27, 
119. 

Adams,  John,  202. 

Agriculture,  28,  151,  255. 

Alexieff,  251. 

Allen,  H.  N.,  54,  98,  126,  150, 
192,  206,  221,  229,  272. 

Alphabet,  189,  190. 

Amah,  156,   185. 

Americanism,  14,  15,  127, 
128. 

Americans  in  Korea,  46,  101, 
208,  209. 

Amulets,  195. 

Ancestral  worship,  128,  183, 
246. 

Anderson,  W.  F.,  64. 

Anglican  church,  283. 

Appenzell,  56,  58,  256. 

Appenzeller,  Henry  Ger- 
hard: Americanism,  14,  15, 
I59>  2S2;  ancestry,  59;  ap- 
pearance, 65,  £253,  258;  ar- 
rival in  Korea,  97-100; 
attitude  to  Koreans,  15; 
birth,  43;  books,  157;  boy- 
hood, 62-65,  260;  children, 
125-128,  158,  159;  civil- 
izer,  234;  college  life,  67- 
73,  81;  companion,  235; 


confirmation,  63 ;  conver- 
sion, 66,  254;  cooperative, 
245;  culture,  62;  death, 
275-280;  diary,  63-65;  ed- 
itor, 205,  206,  225 ;  edu- 
cator, 163,  178,  179,  208, 
222;  faith,  91;  father,  62, 
88,  89,  260;  favorite 
hymns,  78,  2ti;  favorite 
texts,  81,  91,  92,  93,  94,  132, 
210;  habits  of  study,  76, 
157;  homestead,  63;  in  Eu- 
rope, 255-257;  in  Siberia, 
250-252;  itinerating,  135, 
165,  170,  180,  181,  253; 
Japan,  81,  254,  255;  lan- 
guage, 62,  70,  157,  158; 
love  of  children,  130,  131; 
marriage,  87,  88 ;  Metho- 
dist, 70,  72,  231;  mother, 
61,  62,  88 ;  music,  78 ;  pass- 
port, 213;  patriotism,  69, 
9S>  *58;  photograph  of, 
261;  physique,  64,  202,  213, 
250,  253,  258;  preaching, 
74,  92,  203,  204;  reading, 
218;  scholarship,  70;  sem- 
inary life,  75-84;  sense  of 
humor,  78;  sketches  of,  71, 
72,  249,  264;  social  life, 
231,  232;  tastes,  120;  teach- 
ers, 69,  70;  temper,  116, 


289 


290 


Index 


117;  theology,  75;  trans- 
lator, 190-192,  266;  visits 
home,  217-220,  258-262; 
voice,  77,  78,  275  ;  voyages, 
213,  250,  253;  wife,  66,  85, 
86. 

Appenzellers  in  America,  59, 
60,  218,  260. 

Appenzellers  in  Europe,  56- 
59,  256. 

Apples,  124,  125. 

Appleton's  Annual  Cyclope- 
dia, 84. 

Arabian  Nights,  24,  189. 

Arabic,  92,  265. 

Arabs  in  Korea,  24. 

Archaeology,  30-32. 

Architecture,  32,  208,  211, 
212. 

Art,  24,  32,  240. 

Arthur,  President,  42. 

Asiatic  Society,  226,  227. 

Athletics,  130. 

Australian  mission,  281. 


B 

BABY,  125-127. 
Baby  war,  144,  181. 
Bacon,  Miss  A.  M.,  216. 
Bagdad,  24. 
Ballagh,  J.  H.,  86. 
Bandelier,  Professor,  173. 
Banners,  176. 
Beauty,  166. 
Beck,  S.  A.,  247,  248. 
Beds,  108,  165,  166. 
Beecher,  H.  W.,  207. 
Beggars,  28. 
Behrends,  A.  F.,  86. 
Belgium,  256. 


Bells,    135. 

Bengel,  Margaret  J.,  248. 

Berg,  J.  F.,  69. 

Berlin,  N.  Y.,  85. 

Bible,  78,  161,  190,  192,  266. 

Bibliography,  188,  190-192. 

Bingham,  Dr.,  265. 

Biographies,  201,  202,  203. 

Birds,  261,  140. 

Bishops,  267. 

Blake,  Captain,  47. 

Books,  187,  264. 

Books  on  Japan,  216. 

Books  on  Korea,  14,  81,  191, 

227,  248,  259. 
Bookstore,  46,  187,  224. 
Booth,  E.,  86. 
Booths,  187. 
Boston,  220. 
Bowlby,  J.  F.,  273,  276. 
Boxer  riots,   192,  211. 
Boys,  127,  128-131. 
Brinkley,  Capt.,  217. 
Brooks,  Phillips,  14. 
Brown,  S.  R.,  86. 
Browning,  65. 
Buddhism,   32,   33,    141,    172, 

240. 

Buffalo,  262,  263. 
Bulls,  138. 

Bunker,  D.  A.,  247,  263. 
Burglars,    107. 
Burials,  196,  242. 
Busteed,  Dr.,  246. 
Butchers,  233. 
Butz,  H.  A.,  75,  76. 


CALEB  and  Joshua,  73. 
Calvinism,  59,  72. 
Canada,  Mission,  281. 


Index 


291 


Capitals,  141-143- 
Cathedral,  180,  181. 
Cats,  140,  196. 
Cemetery,  240-243. 
Census,  19,  109. 
Changes  in  Korea,  16,  284. 
Charles  The  Bold,  57. 
Chemulpo,    25,    50,    98,    100, 

181,  222,  246,  274-276. 
Chicago,  220,  221. 
Children,  126,  127. 
China,  17,  49,  172,  223,  255- 
Chinese  in  Korea,  154,   155, 

1 80. 
Chinese     learning,     174-176, 

187,  189. 

Cholera,  196-200. 
Christian      literature,      224, 

225,  238,  249,  250. 
Christianity,  33. 
Christianity    in    Korea,    45, 

176,  222,  283,  285. 
Chronology,  19,  30-32. 
Chung  Chong,  166-169. 
Church  life,   114,  219. 
Church  Year,  158. 
Cleanliness,   101,  193. 
Climate,  26-28. 
Clothes,  101,  no. 
Cocks,  18,  134,  236. 
Colors,  25,  26. 
Compass,  mariner's,  24. 
Colossal  images,  32,  142. 
Conestoga  river,  68. 
Confucianism,    28,    97,    177, 

178,  226,  240. 
Congress,  83. 

Converts,  in,  209,  210,  219. 
Cook,  George  H.,  262. 
Courant,  E.,  187. 
Cows,  134,  138. 
Creeds,  33. 


Crooks,  G.  R.,  75,  76. 
Cummock,  R.  L.,  75. 
Curfew,  39. 
Cutler,  Dr.  Mary  M.  246. 


DALLET,  166. 

Dancing,   164. 

Darwin,  170. 

Davidson,  Mr.,  94. 

Days  of  June,  264. 

Demoniacal  possession,  36. 

Demons,  179,  195,  236-241. 

DeQuincey,  62,  189. 

Devil  shrines,  36,  283. 

Dewey,  Admiral,  55. 

Dickinson  College,  217. 

Dictionaries,  186. 

Diet,  139. 

Dodge,  Ella  J.,  85,  86,  67,  88. 

Dodge  family,  85. 

Dogs,  107,  139. 

Donkey,  139. 

Doty,  Miss,  273. 

Dragons,  19,  22,  237. 

Dress,  127. 

Drew    Seminary,    75-83,    89, 

90,  259. 

Dubbs,  Dr.,  69. 
Dynasties,  141,  146,  147. 


E 

EASTER,  98. 
Edicts,  46,  224. 
Edmunds,  Miss,  248. 
Education,  163,  174,  178  208. 
Ellers  Miss,  263. 
Embassies,  48,  52,  95,  150. 
Empress  of  China,  50. 


292 


Index 


Empress  of  China,  216,  263. 
England,    282. 
England,   Church  of,   227. 
English  and  Americans,  263. 
English  language,  116,  117. 
Enmun,  187,  189,  190. 
Epworth  League,  53. 
Ernsberger,  Dr.  Emma,  247. 
Esther  Kim  Pak,  247. 
Ever    White    Mountain,    20, 

32- 
Examinations,  176,   179. 

F 

FACES,  97,  145. 

Fairs,  144. 

Famine,  28,  193. 

Fauna,  136. 

Faust,  Professor  A.  B.,  69. 

Fetichism,  34-36. 

Filial   Piety,    53,   282. 

Fillmore,  Millard,  49. 

Fire  Signals,  39,  284. 

Fisher,  P.  S.,  63. 

Flags,  34,  136,  137,  269. 

Floors,  104,   105,  107,   198. 

Flowers,  25,  122. 

Flues,  34,  106,  107. 

Fog,   277. 

Folk  lore,  34,  142,  143,  146, 
183,  240. 

Folwell,  Dr.,  246. 

Foote,  Lucius  H.,   50,   54. 

Forests,  21,  22,  29. 

"Foster,"   274. 

Foulke,  G.  C.,  52,  no,  207, 
208. 

Fowler,  Bishop,  54,  90. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  67,  232. 

Franklin  and  Marshall  Col- 
lege, 67-70. 


Fraser,  Mrs.  Hugh,  216. 
French,  44,  45,  46,  268. 
Frey,  Lulu  E.,  248. 
Frontiers,   23,  46. 
Fuel,  22,  104. 
Fukuoka,  25. 
Fulton,  Rev.  W.  S.,  67. 
Furniture,  114. 
Fusan,  96,  246. 


GALE,  J.  S.,  71,  248,  273. 
Games  and  sports,  129. 
Gardens,  109,  in,  112,  122- 

124. 

Garfield,  251. 
Gates,  38,  167. 
German  Reformed  Church, 

58,  60,  88. 

Germans     in     Pennsylvania, 

59.  60,  68,  69,  89. 
General  Sherman,  45,  47. 
Gerhard  family,  60,   69. 
Ge-sang,  164,  222. 
Ghosts,  184,  193,  239. 
Ginseng,   145,   146. 
Girls,  84,  222. 

Glass,  107. 
Gordon,  A.  F.,  86. 
Grass,  121,  122. 
Graves,  38,  242. 
Green  Village,  76. 
God,  21. 
Gold,  150,  151. 
Goucher,  J.  S.,  52,  151. 
Gracey,  J.  L.,  259. 
Graves,   39. 
Guam,   266. 
Gulick,  Dr.,  265. 


Index 


293 


H 

HAIR  DRESSING,  284. 

Hall,  Dr.  and  Mrs.,  222,  223, 

246,  247. 
Hannanim,  21. 
Han  River,  243,  280. 
Harland,  Marion,  79. 
Harris,  Bishop,  93. 
Harris,  Lillian,  Dr.,  247. 
Harris,   Mary,   248. 
Harris,  Townsend,  243. 
Hartford,  Conn.,  86,  87. 
Hats,  234,  284. 
Hawaii,  265. 
Hazing,   166,   177. 
Head  gear,  37,  234,  284. 
Heathen,  14,  218,  219. 
Heaven,  40. 

Heidelberg,  Catechism,  62. 
Henry,  Prince,  250. 
Hepburn,  J.  C.,  202,  203. 
Heron,  Dr.  and  Mrs.,  99. 
Hessians,  68. 
Hillman,  Mary  R.,  248. 
Hilltown,  63. 
Historiography,  31. 
History  of  Korea,  15,  16,  30- 

32. 

Holmes,  O.  W.,  202. 
Holt,  Hamilton,  284. 
Homes,  no,  115,  183. 
Honolulu,   265. 
Honorifics,  156,  183. 
Horses,  134,  135,  138,  139. 
Hospitals,  198-20x3,  210. 
Hough,  Walter,  221. 
Houses,   loi-no. 
Howard,   Dr.  Meta,   246. 
Hulbert,  H.  B.,  225,  247,  248. 
Hygiene,  193-195,  198- 
Hymns,  78,  87,  90,  211,  280. 


ICE,  27. 

Imjin  river,  147. 

Inns,  133,  134,  169,  170. 

Inter-Seminary  Alliance,   86. 

87. 

Irving,  Washington,   170. 
Isaiah,  126,  172,  203,  281. 

J 

JAPAN,  36,  43,  48,  93-95. 
Japanese,  93,  207,  211,  268- 

272. 

Jesus,   16,   33,   112,   119,  219. 
Johnson,   H.   G.,   254. 
Jones,   George  H.,   165,   191, 

225,  245,  246,  248,  260. 

K 

KANG  (floor),  104,  105. 

Kangwa,  24,  46,  47. 

Keijo,   23. 

Kempff,   Admiral,   55. 

Kidder,  Miss,  86. 

Kiefer,  J.  B.,  70. 

Kija,   30,   31. 

Kim-che,  148. 

Kipling,  Rudyard,  216. 

Kisogawa,  255,  277. 

Kisogawa    Maru,   276,   277, 

278. 

Kitchen,  Mr.,  94. 
Ki-tsze,  See  Kija. 
Kobayashi,  Consul,  98,  99. 
Komura,  Marquis,  207. 
Korea:  Absorption  in  Japan, 

29,  117;    art,    32;    beauty, 
24-26 ;       chronology,       19, 

30,  32;     civilization,     31- 
33;   climate,   26-28;   coast, 


294 


Index 


21,  96;  emperor,  44, 
185;  empire,  18,  44;  flow- 
ers, 25,  122,  123 ;  frontiers, 
23;  history,  15,  16,  30-32; 
language,  156,  157;  land- 
scape, 25,  144,  284;  leg- 
ends, 18,  30,  100;  litera- 
ture, 190,  224,  238;  min- 
eral wealth,  29,  151;  mod- 
ernization, 16,  234;  moun- 
tains, 20,  21 ;  names,  18, 
19;  politics,  198;  popula- 
tion, 38;  provinces,  20;  re- 
ligion, 33;  rivers,  21,  22; 
ruins,  32;  seasons,  27;  sit- 
uation, 21 ;  soil,  28,  29; 
storks,  26;  temperature, 
26;  timber,  22;  treaties, 
with,  84;  undeveloped,  29; 
valleys,  24;  wars,  33,  222, 
223. 

Korean  embassy,  52. 

Koreans,  the,  15,  36-40; 
boys,  127,  128;  clothing, 
37,  no,  127;  feelings,  40; 
girls,  115,  116;  hospitality, 
168;  in  a  foreigner's  house, 
112;  love  of  scenery,  25; 
literary  men,  173,  174; 
mental  attitude,  41 ;  pa- 
triotism, 36,  37;  polite- 
ness, 38,  141 ;  superstitions, 
181;  traits,  36;  women,  39, 
144,  149,  150. 

Koreans  in  America,   52. 

Koreans  in  foreign  houses, 
112-114. 

Koreans  in   Hawaii,   161. 

Korean  Review,  225,  277. 

Korean  Repository,  225,  249, 
270. 

Kumagawa,  99. 


Kumaga<wa,  Maru,  273,  275, 

277,  278,  279. 
Kun-sen,  277. 
Kuroda,  69. 


LABOR,  37. 

La  Gloire,  277. 

Lakes,  20. 

Lancaster,  Pa.,  67-74,  2I8 

Landscape,  144,  284. 

Landis,  E.  B.,  61,  227. 

Language,    182-192. 

Lao-tsze,  28. 

Latimer,  R.  R.,  87. 

Laundry,  37. 

Legends,   See  folk-lore. 

Lights,  39,  232. 

Li  Hung  Chang,  49. 

Lilies,  25. 

Literature,  190,  224,  238. 

London,  257. 

Long,    Mr.,   94. 

Low,  Minister,  41,  47. 

Luther,  87. 


M 

MACAULAY,  57. 
Maclay,  R.  S.,  54. 
Madison,  N.  J.,  75,  90. 
Magpies,  153. 
Mallalieu,  Bishop,  221. 
Manchuria,  23. 
Mapu,  or  osier,  136. 
Marshall,   Chief  Justice,   67. 
McKecheren,  273,  276. 
McKinley,  Wm.,  260. 
McKinley,  Mrs.,  262. 
Medical  art,  193,  194. 


Index 


295 


Medical  missions,  56,  98,  99, 

246-248. 

Mennonites,   61,  227. 
Methodism,  58,  59. 
Methodists   in   America,    52- 

54,  75- 
Methodists   in   Japan,   92-95, 

254,  255. 

Methodists  in  Korea,  54-56, 
152,  165-170,  185,  207,  211, 

212,     217,     222,     246,     247, 
248,  259,  260,  267,  268. 

Midway  Islands,  265,  266. 

Mikado,  81. 

Milk,  138. 

Miller,  Mrs.  Hugh,  248. 

Millet,  169. 

Milton  quoted,  283. 

Min,  clan,   50. 

Min,  General,  38. 

Min,  Queen,  50,  53. 

Mining,  150,  151. 

Miryeks,  32. 

Missionaries  and  other  peo- 
ple, 228-230. 

Missionaries,  social  life,  159, 
1 60,  232,  264. 

Missionaries,  types  of,  244, 
245. 

Moffatt,  S.  A.,  249. 

Mokpo,  273. 

Mollendorf,  von,  95. 

Moody,  Mr.,  220. 

Moon,  206. 

Moore,  D.  H.,  267,  269-271. 

Moose,  R.,  109. 

Morrison,  Robt,  75. 

Mosquitoes,  79,  80. 

Mountains,  20,  21,  39. 

Muchine,  269. 

Music,   38,  41,  78,  116,   121, 

221. 


N 

NAGASAKI,  94,  99. 

Nak  Tong,  24. 

Names   of   children,    128. 

Navy,  U.  S.,  66,  117. 

Native   Christians,   209,   210, 

219. 

Needles,  195. 
Nevin,  J.  W.,  69. 
Nevius,  Dr.,  124. 
Newark  conference,  90. 
New  England,  217,  220. 
New  Jersey,  262. 
Newton,  Richard,  86. 
New  Year's  Eve,  239. 
Noble,  W.  A.,  223. 
Northfield,  Mass.,  220 


OBERHOLTZER  family,  60. 
Ocean  life,  216,  263-266. 
Officials,    117,    148-150,    180, 

167,  178. 

Ohlinger,  F.,  224-226,  248. 
Oppert,  E.,  45. 
"Oriental,"  15,  175. 
Osaka     steamship    company, 

275. 

Osayto,  277. 
Ossipee,  98. 
Osier,  136. 


PACIFIC  OCEAN,   16,   17,   92, 

263-266. 

Pack,  Capt.  William,  263. 
Paganism,  34-36. 
Pagodas,   32. 

Pai  Chai  school,  208,  239. 
Paine,  Josephine  O.,  248. 


296 


Index 


Palace,  238. 

Paper,  107,  108. 

Pear  Flower  School,  248. 

Peasantry,  22. 

Peeke,  H.  V.  S.,  86. 

Peking  pass,  152. 

Penn,  William,  59,  69,  89. 

Pennsylvania,    59,    122,    123, 

227. 

Peppers,  106,  no,  148. 
Perry    Commodore,    42,    82, 

165. 

Philadelphia  conference,   90. 
Phonograph,  275. 
Photographs,  159. 
Pillows,   108. 

Ping  Yang,  23,  147-151,  222. 
Plockhoy,  172. 
Poetry,  26,   174. 
Politics,  198. 
Population,  19,  38,  109. 
Presbyterians,  North,  66,  67, 

86,  273. 
Presbyterians,      South,      273, 

282. 

Printing  press,  224,  249. 
Privacy,  149. 
Proverbs,  no. 
Punishments,  128. 


QUAGGA,   176. 
Queechin,  238. 
Queen  Min,  50,  53. 
Quelpart,  32,  122. 

R 

RAILWAYS,  133,  165,  268-272. 
Race  feeling,  55. 
Rain,  27. 
Rats,  196. 


Redemptioners,  59. 

Reformatoin,  58,  60. 

Reformed  Church  in  Amer- 
ica, 86. 

Reformed  Church  in  the 
United  States,  88. 

Religion,  237. 

Revolution,   American,   68. 

Reynolds,  W.  D.,  191. 

Rice,  28,  166,  255. 

Richman,  J.  B.,  57. 

Ridel,  Bishop,  186. 

Roads,  97,  176. 

Rodgers,  Admiral,  47,  48. 

Roman  Catholics,  45,  160, 
161,  176,  180. 

Roofs,  106,  109. 

Rooms,   102,   108,   109,  166. 

Ross,  John. 

Rothweiler,  Louisa  C.,  248. 

Roze,  Admiral,  45,  46. 

Ruins,  32. 

Russians,  48,  207,  211,  243, 
250-252,  258. 


SACRIFICES,  39. 

St.  Gall,  57. 

Salee  River,  23. 

Samurai,  48. 

Sargent,  Senator,  83. 

Savacol  family,  60. 

Scranton,  W.  B.,  66,  92,  99, 

too,   163,  209,  221. 
Scranton,  Mrs.,  Sr.,  56,  210, 

247,  259. 

Scenery,  25,  26,  167. 
Schaff,  Philip,  69. 
Scidmore,    Miss,    255. 
Schley,  Admiral,  46. 
Schools,   174. 


Index 


297 


Scudder,  Mr.,  75. 

Seaports,  228. 

Senate,  U.  S.,  50,  83. 

Seoul,  see  Soul. 

Servants,    114,    156. 

Shamanism,   33,   240. 

Sheep,  122. 

Shimonoseki,  254. 

Shinra,  see  Silla. 

Sherman,  Dr.,  187. 

Shops,   187. 

Shrines,  36. 

Shufeldt,  R.  W.,  50,  55,  82. 

Sick,  193,  200. 

Silla,   24. 

Silverman,  J.  P.,  75. 

Sitting  habits,  113,  114. 

Slavery,  37,  197. 

Small-pox,  133,  170. 

Smoke,  104,  233. 

Soil,  26,  166. 

Song-do,   141,   142,   146,   147. 

Sons,  129. 

Souderton.    Pa.,    43,    88,    89, 

260. 
Soul,   37,   98,    176,   177,    197- 

199,   232,   285. 
South,  the    (U.  S.  A.),  282, 

283. 

Spaniards.  172,  173. 
Sparrows,  140. 
Spelling.   190. 
Spencer,  D.  S.,  93. 
Spirits,   35,   195,  236,  243. 
Statistics,  31,  284-285. 
Steamboats,   215,   216. 
Stone    rights,    129,    130. 
Storms,  26. 
Stout,  H.  86. 
Streets  of  Soul,  39,  104,  129, 

232,  233. 
Strong,  James,  75. 


Swearer,  W.  C.,  269-272. 
Swings,  129. 
Swiss  traits,  217. 


TABLETS,  7,  39,  208,  239,  240. 

Tai  wen  Kun,  44-46. 

Takahira,  207. 

Talmage,  T.  DeWitt,  280. 

Talmud  quoted,  285. 

Ta  tong  River,  23,   30,  147, 

150. 

Taylor,  Mr.,  95. 
Taylortown,  N.  J.,  76. 
Telegraph,  248. 
Telephones,  284. 
Temperature,  26. 
Theology,  58,  222. 
Things  Korean,  229. 
Tibet,  172. 
Tides,  277. 
Tigers,  136,  137. 
Timber,  21,  22,  29. 
Tok-gabi,  238. 
Tong-haks,  211,  222. 
Top-knots,   128,   185,  284. 
Townsend,  L.  T.,  86. 
Tracts,  192. 
Translation    of    Bible,    187, 

190,    191,    192,   266,   274. 
Treaties,  14,  49,  81. 
Tsuruga,  13. 
Tumen  river,  23. 
Types,  159,  160. 

U 

UNDERWOOD,  H.   G.,   86,   95, 

99,  191,  248,  273. 
Underwood,  Mrs.  H.  G.,  185, 

198. 


298 


Index 


Upham,  S.  F.,  75. 
Utopia,  172. 


VACATIONS,  250. 

Vanguard,  The,  65,  150,  249, 

273. 

Verbeck  of  Japan,  85,  86. 
Vermin,   165,    166,    170,    171. 
Victorieuse,  277. 
Villages,  141,  284. 
Vladivostok,  43,   84,  250. 

W 

WADSWORTH,  J.  S.,  78,  81,  82, 

85,  87. 

Wzber,  Mr.,  243,  251. 
Walloons,  256. 
Walls,  38,  107,  149. 
Wanamaker,  John,  285. 
Washington  City,  13,  14. 
Washington,  George,  33,  68, 

169. 
Water,  95,  113,  139. 


Watts,  Robert,  258. 
Wesley,  John,  59,  257. 
Westchester,  63,  66,  67. 
White  clothes,  114. 
White,  May  Culder,  264. 
Widowers,  44,  107. 
Wiley,  J.,  75,  76. 
"Willis,"  276. 
Wilmington,  Del.,  258. 
Winter,  26. 
Witches,  35. 
Wives   of   missionaries,    115, 

1 60. 
Women,    39,    113,    114,    144, 

145,  150,  164,  169,  240. 
Wonju,  167. 
Wonsan,  222. 
Wyckoff,  M.  N.,  86. 


YANG-BAN,  36,  40,  179. 
Yalu  river,  23. 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  285. 
Yokohama,  93,  94,  217. 
Yuan  Shi  Kai,  56. 


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